Outdoor Adventures
Lakeshore rail trails, canyon waterfalls, grassland viewpoints, desert boardwalks and alpine ski runs — the Okanagan’s outdoors run the length of the valley.
Results
No outdoor destinations match that combination yet. Clear the filters to see everything.
-
Adventure Skating Loop & Shinny Pond – Apex
Apex's Adventure Skating Loop is the thing visitors photograph and then can't quite explain to friends: a kilometre of Zamboni-smoothed ice looping through the forest, so that you skate between the trees rather than around a rink, with the snow banked high on either side and the lights coming on as the afternoon fades. The resort calls it famous with some justification — there is nothing else like it in the Okanagan. Beside it sits the Shinny Pond for pickup hockey (sticks stay on the pond, not the loop), and a new Skate Shack at the start of the loop, near the road into the village, sells skate passes and rents skates and helmets on weekends (Friday and Saturday noon to 8 pm, Sunday noon to 6 pm), with rentals also available daily from the main rental shop — a deposit is required, and after hours the skates go into the dropbox at the Gunbarrel Saloon. For 2026/27 a full-day skate pass is $15 for ages 13 and up and $7.50 for 12 and under, good for both the loop and the pond. Everyone on the ice wears skates, helmets are recommended, and strollers and carried children stay off the surface. It is weather-dependent natural ice, maintained daily when conditions allow, and part of Apex's Friday and Saturday night line-up along with night skiing and tubing — so plan a lap under the lights and then thaw out at the Gunbarrel.
-
Apex Mountain Resort
Apex is Penticton's home mountain, a short 30-minute drive from town — 33 km, and 23 km from Penticton Airport — with 2,000 vertical feet and 1,112 skiable acres of north-east-facing terrain that catches the region's dry champagne powder, about 500 cm of it a year. Its 85 runs break down as 11 novice, 27 intermediate and 43 advanced, served by a high-speed quad, a triple chair, a T-bar and a magic carpet, and four terrain parks step up from the kids' Little Nuggets through Okanagan and Prospector to the big-feature Claim Jumper. Friday and Saturday nights are Apex's signature: from 4 to 9 pm the T-bar and Magic Carpet run under lights for night skiing on the Okanagan Run and the lit Okanagan Terrain Park, the tube park glows for night tubing, the skating loop is open late from its new Skate Shack, and the Gunbarrel Saloon — voted Canada's best après-ski bar ten times running — sits at the bottom of the run; Friday nights come with half-price lift tickets and rentals. Off the slopes, the Tim Hortons Tube Park and the kilometre-long Adventure Skating Loop through the trees each have their own page on Okanagan Roam, and Nickel Plate Nordic Centre is 6.5 km further up the road. When you arrive, take a left at the Y for the main parking lot; a winter shuttle runs from Penticton on weekends. Apex operates in winter only.
-
Brent Mountain Trail
Brent Mountain is the alpine summit above Apex, and the Brent Mountain Trail climbs roughly 5 km through the Brent Mountain Protected Area with 444 metres of elevation gain to the 2,203-metre top, where an unused fire lookout stands in a 360-degree view of the Coast and Monashee ranges and the Okanagan; BC Parks says the trail is well marked and to allow four to five hours return. The main parking area is about 8 km up the Shatford Forest Service Road from Apex Mountain Road; a high-clearance vehicle is recommended and the road carries active logging traffic. There are no facilities, so treat any water. Pets and domestic animals must be on a leash at all times.
-
Nickel Plate Nordic Centre
Nickel Plate sits at 1,850 metres, 6.5 km past Apex Mountain Resort on the Hedley/Nickel Plate Road and about 45 minutes from downtown Penticton, and its elevation gives it one of the longest ski seasons in Canada. There are 45 km of groomed trails for both classic and skate skiing and 22.5 km of marked snowshoe trails, with rentals, lessons and snowshoe tours through the season. Dogs are welcome on the K-9 loop at any time, and on the Evening Star, Nighthawk and Speculator trails on Thursdays and Sundays after 1 p.m., subject to grooming and weather; keep them on leash and pack out their waste. Day passes, flex passes and memberships are sold through the centre.
-
Tim Hortons Tube Park – Apex
The Tim Hortons Tube Park is Apex's guaranteed-laughter option — the resort's own words are "thrown down the run", and that is about right. It sits at the base area beside the beginner slopes, runs on weekends and holidays through the season, and comes alive on Friday and Saturday nights when the lights come on and tubing joins night skiing on the T-bar and Magic Carpet from 4 to 9 pm, with the Gunbarrel Saloon — ten times voted Canada's best après-ski bar — at the bottom of the run for afterwards. Tickets for the 2026/27 season are sold in two-hour blocks: $30 for adults, teens, seniors and students, $20 for juniors aged 8 to 12, and $16 for children 7 and under and for masters 70 and over, with extra hours at $5, a $15 Friday Night Special for all ages and a $75 family rate for up to six. Children need to be 42 inches tall to ride alone; smaller kids share a double tube with a parent or have their tube held on the way down. Hours shift over the holidays, so check the resort's hours page or call the office before you drive up, and remember Apex is a 30-minute drive from Penticton with a weekend shuttle from town.
-
Nor-Val Sports Centre
Armstrong's Nor-Val Sports Centre — its ice sheet currently carries the name Sunbelt Arena — runs a friendly weekday drop-in program from September 9 to the end of March that is unusually welcoming to adults who just want to play. Adult and senior (55+) shinny fills the ice on Monday and Friday mornings from 10 to 11:30, an open adult (19+) shinny takes Wednesday at the same hour, and each is $7.50. Wednesday continues with an adult and seniors' skate from 11:45 to 12:45 for $2, Friday has a free parent-and-tot skate at the same time, and the whole town turns out for the Sunday Family Skate from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at $5 a person (under-twos free), with $2 Toonie Skates on select dates through the fall. There are no skate rentals, so bring your own, and the arena is closed on December 11 and 25. Times can shift for tournaments, so confirm with Armstrong Spallumcheen Parks and Recreation before a special trip.
-
Thomas Hayes Ecological Reserve Trails
The Thomas Hayes Ecological Reserve is the rare ecological reserve with sanctioned walking trails: two easy loops through the wetlands and open country southwest of Armstrong near Otter Lake, the 4.3 km Coyote Loop and the 1.7 km White Tail Wander. It is a bird-watching walk more than a climb, and the Township of Spallumcheen lists it among the area's trails. The trailhead is on Hayes Road, about 7 km southwest of downtown Armstrong. Because this is an ecological reserve, stay on the marked trails and leave nothing behind. No dogs are allowed on the trails.
-
Baldy Mountain Resort
Baldy is the South Okanagan's ski hill, tucked between the desert country around Oliver and the West Kootenays, with a summit at 2,310 metres and a day lodge at 1,726 metres giving 1,315 vertical feet of skiing on 360 acres of trails, 240 of them gladed, fed by 25 to 35 feet of dry powder a year and famous for its tree runs. It is a small, friendly, family hill that started in 1968 and still runs on that spirit: short lift lines, the Eagle Chair deliberately rested on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so that Thursday is 'Big Pow Thursday', and a terrain park for those who want it. New for this winter is cat skiing — a snowcat from the top of the Eagle Chair to Baldy's upper terrain, 180 more metres of vertical and 120 acres of new lines, running Friday to Sunday by single ride or private booking with an Eagle lift ticket. The Magic Carpet stays open until 7 pm on Friday and Saturday nights for tubing and beginner skiing under the lights, the tubing lane runs straight off its top, and for something completely different you can borrow discs at the ticket office and play winter disc golf on the course beside the Sugarlump Chair. About 13 kilometres of snowshoe trail, with rentals and guided tours, has its own page on Okanagan Roam, as does the volunteer-run McKinney Nordic snowshoe area on the road up. The Corduroy Café and the upstairs Baldy Bar anchor the lodge, and in summer the Roundhouse Station Coffee Bar opens Fridays and Saturdays alongside the Pine & Peak Artisan Markets. The access road turns to gravel near the top: winter tyres are strongly recommended.
-
Baldy Snowshoe Trails
Baldy's snowshoe trails are the quiet side of the South Okanagan's ski hill: about 13 kilometres of marked trail, by the resort's count, threading the high forest around the day lodge at 1,726 metres, where the same dry, light powder that draws skiers piles up on the branches and muffles everything. The network is laid out for explorers of varying abilities, from gentle wanders to longer loops with views over the valley toward the desert country, and because it sits at elevation the snow is reliable from around November to April. You can go your own way with the resort's snowshoe map, rent snowshoes from the rental team if you don't have your own, or ask about a guided tour — the resort's guides will take you out and show you the mountain from the trees. It is a genuinely family-friendly outing and an easy add-on to a day when only some of your group wants to ride the lifts, with the Corduroy Café and the Baldy Bar in the lodge for the warm-up afterwards. Baldy is about 45 minutes from Oliver up a road that turns to gravel near the top, so bring winter tyres, and check the resort's opening dates for the coming season before you go.
-
McKinney Nordic Ski Club – Snowshoe & Cross-Country Trails
Twenty-seven kilometres up McKinney Road from Oliver, a few minutes before the road reaches Baldy Mountain Resort, the McKinney Nordic Ski Club keeps a small, volunteer-run trail area alive on the old logging roads south of the mountain. Right now it is a snowshoe destination: roughly five kilometres of marked snowshoe trail — the Dogleg Trail among them — maintained through the winter by club volunteers, with a shelter at the Junction, a toilet at the trailhead and use by donation. The club's nine kilometres of cross-country ski trail are still there, but they are not being groomed: the club's groomer and its long-time operator retired after the 2023/24 season, and while the members have the funds and the will to bring track-setting back, no grooming has been announced for the coming winter, so treat the ski trails as ungroomed backcountry touring at best and check the club's Facebook page for the latest. What you get in return is elevation — the trails sit around 1,400 metres, with Baldy's 2,300-metre summit above — reliable snow, quiet, and a place where dogs and families are welcome and parking is free. Founded in 1990 as the Inkameep X-Country Ski Club and moved to this higher, snowier site in 1995, it is the kind of grassroots outdoor club the South Okanagan does well; if you are heading to Baldy anyway, it is an easy stop on the way up.
-
Big White Horse-Drawn Sleigh Rides & Dining Tours
There is no quieter way to see Big White's forest than from under a blanket in a horse-drawn sleigh, the runners hissing over the snow and the trees ticking past in the cold. The resort's sleigh rides leave from outside the Happy Valley Day Lodge from December 14, 2026 through March 30, 2027: half-hour rides in the mid-afternoon ($38 for ages 12 and up, $27 for children 4 to 11, tots on a lap free) and hour-long rides at 11 am and 1 pm ($48 / $37), all open to every age and made for families. For something more intimate, a small private sleigh seats up to four for an hour in the late afternoon ($365) — the resort's own word for it is romantic, and on a starlit evening it is hard to argue. The dinner version is the one people talk about: a sleigh ride through the snow-covered trails to a cabin in the woods, where the resort's culinary team serves a family-style gourmet meal at two tables of six, with coffee, tea and water provided and your own wine welcome. Dining tours must be booked at least a day ahead (tell the Activities Desk about dietary needs 72 hours out), group rides run on Wednesdays only during peak holiday periods, dogs cannot come along, and the horses are not to be approached without the driver's say-so. Book online or at the Activities Desk in the Village Centre Mall, dress warmly with winter boots, and be ten minutes early — the sleighs leave on time.
-
Big White Nordic & Wilderness Trails
Away from the chairlifts, Big White keeps 25 kilometres of Nordic and Wilderness trails winding through the forest and meadows around Happy Valley — cross-country skiing from beginner loops to advanced climbs, a separate set of Wilderness trails for snowshoeing where leashed dogs are welcome, and the Trapping Meadows trail set aside for fat bikes. The trailhead is at the bottom of the beginner slope in the Happy Valley Adventure Centre (take Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre and cross the bridge, or park in the Happy Valley lot; there is a second access from the Black Forest lot), and the resort grooms and patrols the network daily, posting grooming updates online. Access is included with any Big White day lift ticket or season pass; otherwise a trail pass is sold at the ticket offices, and Nordic ski and snowshoe packages can be rented at the Village Centre Mall. If you would rather be shown around, the resort runs two-hour guided snowshoe tours twice daily — an interpretive group tour for ages 16 and up ($64 per person, less booked in advance) that mixes local ecology with big views, and a private Family Adventure tour for ages 8 and up ($164 for a group of up to eight) — with small groups, a local host and the trail pass sold separately. Warm up afterwards in the Happy Valley Day Lodge, and if you are here after dark, the Twinkling Trail begins on the same trail system.
-
Big White Ski Resort
Big White is the Okanagan's big mountain resort, up the road from Kelowna and open year-round. It is the second-largest family ski resort in British Columbia — 2,834 acres of patrolled terrain, one of Canada's largest modern lift systems and more than seven metres of the champagne powder behind its motto, 'it's the snow' — and from December 18 it also runs the largest night-skiing operation in Western Canada, lighting the Bullet Express and Plaza Chair for 38 acres and the longest night vertical in North America, with TELUS Park lit on Friday and Saturday nights. Free Snow Host mountain tours leave the Village Centre every morning at 10:15, and for the 2026/27 season Happy Valley's beginner area gains Polar Passage, a new covered conveyor lift with expanded teaching terrain. Happy Valley is also where the rest of Big White's winter lives: the Tube Park, Canada's highest outdoor skating rink, 25 kilometres of Nordic and Wilderness trails, the illuminated Twinkling Trail, Candle Creek Kennels' dog-sled tours, Outback's snowmobile tours and the horse-drawn sleigh rides — each with its own page on Okanagan Roam. The 2026/27 season runs November 26, 2026 to April 4, 2027. In summer the mountain turns into a bike park — downhill trails, the Big White Slopestyle Centre and a beginner skills area — with scenic rides on the Bullet Chair, e-bike tours and a real alpine hiking network: the 4.5 km Rhonda Lake Trail drops from the top of the chair through spruce and pine to a lake hidden under the Cliff bowl (about an hour one way, 456 metres of elevation), the 1 km Peak Trail loops along the Cliff Bowl rim to the summit cairn in 45 minutes, the 4 km Falcon Ridge Trail climbs the face of the mountain past wildflower streams to a scramble at the saddle, and the short, steep Jamieson Loop finds the last of the winter snow. The resort suggests three hours for the classic loop up Falcon Ridge and down to Rhonda Lake, backed by its wildflower and bird field guides. Hikers ride the chair until 4 p.m. (6 p.m. on Fridays), and dogs are welcome on the lift and must be leashed on the trails. The resort lists driving, parking and EV charging among its free amenities, offers overnight RV parking in summer, and runs shuttles from Kelowna and the airport.
-
Big White Tube Park (Happy Valley)
Big White's Tube Park is the loudest, happiest corner of Happy Valley: five specially groomed lanes dropping off the hillside, a tube lift that hauls fifty riders an hour back to the top, and the kind of speed that has grown adults shrieking like their kids. No skill and no equipment are needed — just a sense of adventure — and because the park runs into the evening, it is the classic after-lifts plan. Tickets are sold for timed two-hour windows (afternoons and evenings, with more sessions on weekends and holidays) and only a limited number go on sale for each hour, so book online ahead and arrive at your start time to squeeze in the most runs. Children need to be 42 inches (106 cm) tall to ride alone; smaller kids can still tube, with a paying adult holding the tether beside them, and everyone gets their own tube — no laps, and no ski boots or hard-shell boots. Linking tubes into a chain is allowed when conditions permit. You reach it by Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre or by parking in the Happy Valley lot; leashed dogs are welcome in the Adventure Park, the Happy Valley Day Lodge has heated washrooms and hot food, and Big White's skating rink and Twinkling Trail are steps away.
-
Candle Creek Kennels – Dog Sled Tours at Big White
The most Canadian half hour you can spend at Big White starts at a small cabin in the Happy Valley Adventure Park, where the dogs are already singing. Candle Creek Kennels runs the resort's dog-sled tours with a team of enthusiastic Alaskan huskies, and the experience begins before the sled moves: an orientation that introduces you to the dogs, the sled and the harnessing, so you understand what you are about to be part of. Then the team leans into the traces and you are away on a six-kilometre groomed trail through Big White's pine forest and alpine meadows — about half an hour of mushing with the mountain scenery sliding past. Candle Creek is one of the operators that helped write British Columbia's Sled Dog Code of Practice, and the wellbeing of the dogs is visibly the point of the operation. Each sled carries up to two riders (130 kg combined) at $399 per sled for the 2026/27 season; children must be at least three, and those aged three to ten wear a helmet, so bring your ski helmet. Wear warm layers, insulated boots and goggles for the flying snow, arrive at the dog-sled cabin no more than five minutes early, and leave the ski boots behind — they are dangerous around the dogs. Book through Big White's Activities Desk (250-491-6111, [email protected]); tours run rain, snow or shine, and there are no refunds or changes within seven days of departure.
-
Happy Valley Ice Skating Rink – Big White
At the top of the road to Big White, ringed by snow-ghosted trees and mountains, sits what the resort calls Canada's highest outdoor skating rink — an Olympic-hockey-sized sheet of ice in Happy Valley that turns an ordinary winter evening into a postcard. It is fully lit for night skating, there is a bonfire beside it every afternoon after 3 pm to thaw your hands, and "ice buddies" are on hand to steady beginners, so it works just as well for a first wobble as for a fast lap. Locals turn up for pickup hockey — no slap shots, no raising the puck — and families come for the simple pleasure of gliding under the stars. Skates, hockey sticks and helmets can be rented at the Happy Valley rental shop (a waiver is required, signed by a parent or guardian for anyone under 19), and everyone entering the rink must be on skates: no shoes, strollers or wheelchairs on the ice, and helmets are recommended. Take Lara's Gondola from the Village Centre and turn right at the Happy Valley Day Lodge, or park in the Happy Valley lot; the lodge has heated washrooms and hot snacks, and the Tube Park and Twinkling Trail are next door. Like any outdoor ice, the rink can close in mild or stormy weather — check the resort's hours before you lace up.
-
Outback Snowmobile Tours – Big White
For the fastest way into Big White's backcountry, meet Outback Snowmobile Tours at the snowmobile hut tucked behind the Happy Valley skating rink. The tours are built for people who have never sat on a sled: a guide sets the pace to the least experienced rider, the routes are chosen for scenery — forest, open meadows and long views over the Monashees — and there are photo stops along the way. The one-hour tour, departing late morning and again in the early evening, is the classic introduction; the two-hour tour, running three times a day, gets deeper into the pristine terrain and is the resort's pick for families and first-timers who want more. Ride your own machine or double up with a passenger, and if you have come without snow gear, adult-sized snowmobile clothing and helmets are provided. Drivers must be at least 16 with a valid driver's licence (and parental consent under 19), passengers just need to be taller than 91 cm, every rider signs a waiver, and each group leaves a credit-card damage deposit at the hut — an optional loss-waiver caps your liability. Book through Big White's Activities Desk in the Village Centre Mall (250-491-6111) or online, arrive thirty minutes before departure with your licence, goggles and a neck warmer, and be aware that tours are non-refundable inside 72 hours and go ahead in poor visibility. Hot food and heated washrooms are a short walk away in the Happy Valley Day Lodge.
-
Twinkling Trail – Big White
When the lifts stop and the temperature drops, Big White switches on the Twinkling Trail — an illuminated walking path through the snow-laden forest of the Happy Valley Adventure Park, strung with light displays that turn an ordinary evening stroll into something children remember for years. No equipment and no skill are needed: it is a walk, open to all ages (little ones under five with an adult), on packed snow that rewards a good pair of winter boots and snow pants for the kids. It opens each evening from dusk and stays lit until dawn from mid-December through to April, snow and weather permitting, so it slots easily between dinner and bedtime, or after a session on the tube park and rink that share the Adventure Park. Access is included with a Big White lift ticket, season pass or POWder Card; otherwise pick up a trail pass at the Village Centre Mall ticket office. Take Lara's Gondola down to Happy Valley and cross the bridge, or park in the Happy Valley lot, and follow the signs; leashed dogs are welcome, the Happy Valley Day Lodge has heated washrooms and hot chocolate, and the one rule the resort is strict about is simple — look, but don't touch the lights.
-
Coldstream Ranchlands Trail
The Coldstream Ranchlands Trail is a 6.85 km loop on Vernon Hill above Coldstream Valley Estates, rated Difficult by Tourism Vernon, that zigzags through grasslands and forest to a high point of 1,011 metres — 324 metres of climbing — with views over Okanagan Lake, Kalamalka Lake, Middleton Mountain, the Coldstream Valley and Bluenose Mountain. The west side of the loop doubles as a mountain-bike climbing trail; the east side is a rockier ascent above a steep ravine and is not recommended for bikes. Wooden cattle gates lead into the undeveloped central portion, which is home to a rich diversity of wildlife, so stay on the designated trails. From the loop trailhead an extra kilometre of steep switchbacks connects down to the Grey Canal Trail; the Regional District's Coldstream Ranchlands section of the Grey Canal Trail is reached from the parking area at 190 Ravine Drive. Dogs must be leashed under the regional dog-control bylaw.
-
Dutch's Campground
Dutch's is the campground you want when the plan is Kal Beach: a family-run park on Kalamalka Road in Coldstream, a five-minute walk from the sand and the impossibly turquoise water of Kalamalka Lake, with the Okanagan Rail Trail running past the gate for a flat ride to Vernon or south toward Kekuli Bay. It takes both tents and RVs, books online or by phone, and — unusually for the Okanagan — stays open all year, with winter camping by application from October to May for those who want Sovereign Lake's ski trails and SilverStar within a short drive. Expect a friendly, no-frills lakeside campground rather than a resort, and check the operator's site for current site details and rates before you arrive.
-
Jeffers Park Skating Rink
Lavington's Jeffers Park rink is the kind of place that makes a Canadian winter: a covered outdoor sheet, built and run entirely by volunteers of the Lavington Community Association, free to use and first-come, first-served. The roof — funded with help from the District of Coldstream and the Regional District — keeps the ice skateable through snowfalls, and the lights stay on until 10:45 p.m. The rink opens at 9 a.m. each day (it is closed from 8 to 9 for setup), and while sticks and pucks are welcome at most hours, there is a protected public skate with no sticks daily from 4 to 5 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 9 to 10. On weekdays the ice belongs to Lavington Elementary classes during school hours, so plan for after-school or weekend visits. There are no rentals and no bookings, no footwear or strollers on the ice, and the surface is weather-dependent — it can close without notice in a thaw. In summer the slab becomes a sports court.
-
Kalamalka Lake Lookout (Highway 97 Rest Area)
The Kalamalka Lake Lookout is the North Okanagan's classic drive-up view, and it has been stopping traffic for generations: from a bench of the old highway above the lake's north end, the whole of Kalamalka — the "lake of many colours" — lies below you, shifting from turquoise to jade to deep blue as the light moves across its limestone-rich water, with the Coldstream valley opening to the east and the hills rolling south toward Oyama. This is the old Highway 97 lookout, now on Kalamalka Lakeview Drive, and since 2015 it has been a full provincial rest area: turn off Highway 97 at the Vista Road / Kalamalka Lakeview Drive exit south of Vernon and you will find marked parking stalls (with room for larger vehicles), two toilets, six picnic tables, animal-proof bins and a xeriscaped terrace — all wheelchair accessible and free. Bring lunch; the picnic tables face the water, and on a clear day the view runs past Coldstream to the Monashees. The lookout is also a waypoint on the Kal Crystal Waters Trail, the 12.5 km walking and cycling route from Vernon to Lake Country, which uses this parking area as one of its access points if you want to stretch the stop into a walk along the old highway toward Kekuli Bay.
-
Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park – Cosens Bay
Cosens Bay is the earned beach of Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park: boat in, or bike or hike a 6 km trail to reach it, and that is exactly why people go. Once there, a buoyed swim area waits in the bay and there is plenty of space to stretch out, with a pet beach at the eastern end for your four-legged family member. It is a popular destination for boaters. There are no lifeguards, so bring what you need and plan the trip back. The walk in is the reason naturalists love this park: more than 14 km of trails cross a rare intact grassland where 432 kinds of plants have been recorded, canyon wrens and white-throated swifts nest in the cliffs, and the Rattlesnake Point trail ends at a viewing platform with eight benches turned toward the spectacular view over the lake. Pit toilets only, maintained April to late October.
♥ Local Favourite 🐾 Dog Friendly
-
Kalavida Surf Shop
Kalavida Surf Shop sits directly across the road from Kal Beach on Kalamalka Lake, so you can rent and be paddling the “lake of a thousand colours” within minutes. The rental lineup runs from inflatable stand-up paddleboards and kids’ boards to multi-person SUPs, including four-person mega boards for groups, plus kayaks that you can launch from the shore of Kal Beach or take with you to explore another lake for the weekend; group and party paddles can be arranged. Because the shop is also at the north end of the Okanagan Rail Trail, it doubles as a bike hub with Class 1 e-bikes, cruiser bikes and kids’ bikes for a lakeside ride along Kalamalka Lake.
-
Cooke Creek Recreation Site (Shuswap River)
Cooke Creek sits beside the crystal-clear Shuswap River on the road from Enderby to Mabel Lake — 22 sites a short turn off the pavement, with swimming holes, trout water clear enough that divers use it, and walking trails through the riverside forest. In October the salmon run turns the river into a show, and the Kingfisher hatchery and interpretive centre is a few minutes away on the same road.
-
Enderby Arena
Enderby's arena at the John Pritchard Memorial Sports Complex offers something rare: free public skating, several days a week, from September 1 through March. The schedule is built around after-school and weekend hours — Tuesday to Thursday from 2 to 3 p.m., Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. — and admission costs nothing. It is a straightforward, old-fashioned skate: no sticks or pucks on the ice, strollers welcome, everyone on the surface in skates, and helmets strongly recommended. Bring your own gear, as rentals are not listed. The building seats 900 and is the home of the Enderby Ice Hawks and the town's minor-hockey and skating-lesson programs, so check the arena calendar for the odd closure around games and tournaments. Enderby & District Recreation Services (250-838-2665) can confirm the week's times.
-
Hidden Lake Recreation Site
Hidden Lake lives up to its name — a long forested lake in the hills east of Enderby, 13 km up a good gravel road from the Trinity Valley — and then surprises you with 48 campsites and a real boat launch. No towing is allowed on the water, so it stays glassy for canoes, paddleboards and trout anglers, generators are limited to a few hours a day and quiet hours are enforced, which makes it one of the more peaceful large campgrounds in the North Okanagan. First come, first served.
-
Kingfisher Interpretive Centre
Twenty-five kilometres east of Enderby on the road to Mabel Lake, the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre is a volunteer-run salmon hatchery on the banks of the Shuswap River that has been raising Chinook salmon for close to four decades — and it welcomes visitors. In summer the hatchery opens for tours, with displays to browse and interpreters on hand to answer questions, on Sundays, Mondays and Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; the riverside grounds and trails are open from dawn to dusk year-round, and outhouses in the upper parking lot stay open to the public. Timing matters here: from mid-April to the end of the school year, weekday mornings belong to school groups releasing salmon fry, so the trails open to everyone after 1:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and through September and October the buildings are closed for scientific research while the trails remain open in daylight hours. The centre's public events are the real treat — a free Learn to Fish day for children each July, and the annual Salmon Egg Take on the Thanksgiving weekend, when Chinook are netted on the river and their eggs fertilized back at the incubator in a free, hands-on family event you are welcome to join or simply watch. No admission fee is published for a visit; the society runs on volunteers and donations, and it won the Canadian Museum of Nature's 2021 Nature Inspiration Award for community action. Keep pets under control and pack out what you bring in.
-
Mabel Lake Resort & Marina
Mabel Lake Resort is the comfortable way to camp on one of the North Okanagan's wildest lakes: shaded RV sites with 30-amp full hookups a few steps from the beach at the south end of Mabel Lake, a marina with fuel and moorage, a store, laundry and showers, and the resort's own golf course across the road. It is the full-service counterpart to the free recreation sites up the shore — the place for a boat-and-beach week when the rest of the family wants a cabin or a condo.
-
Noisy Creek Recreation Site (Mabel Lake)
Noisy Creek is where the North Okanagan goes to the beach in July: sixty campsites at the wild north end of Mabel Lake, reached by 24 km of forest road from the Enderby side, with long sandy beaches, warm shallows and a trail into the forest behind camp. Recreation Sites and Trails BC describes it as very popular with young people and families, and that is fair warning — on long weekends it is full by Friday afternoon, and there is nothing to buy for an hour in any direction, so come with the truck loaded. What you get for the effort is the best beach camping in the North Okanagan on a lake most visitors never see.
-
Riverside RV Park & Campground
Riverside sits on the Shuswap River right in Enderby: shaded tent and RV sites with full hookups, a boat launch that puts you straight into the river for the classic lazy float, a covered kitchen and gazebo for group dinners, a playground and a riverwalk trail — with the Enderby Cliffs towering over the far bank and the town's cafés a five-minute walk away. It is the natural base for the cliffs hike, Mabel Lake day trips and the Kingfisher hatchery.
-
Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail – Enderby section
The Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail follows the abandoned Sicamous-to-Armstrong rail corridor, and 21 km of it is now open to the public between Enderby, Grindrod and Mara — a flat, easy ride along the Shuswap River valley on a rail grade shared with walkers. The rail-trail vision, developed with Secwépemc partners, is to protect environmental, agricultural and cultural values along the corridor while building tourism and transportation links between the communities. Two things to know before you ride: the section along Mara Lake between Sicamous and Mara is open on weekends only from mid-September through December 2026 while shoreline-stabilization work is under way, and the Armstrong section has not yet opened. Trailhead parking and costs are not published on the trail site, and no dog or e-bike rules are published for the trail.
-
Shuswap River Float
Enderby's classic summer ritual: launch a tube, air mattress or kayak at Belvidere Park and let the gentle Shuswap River carry you 2.5 km past cottonwoods and the Enderby Cliffs. It takes an hour or two. You must exit at Tuey (Waterwheel) Park, because dangerous rapids begin immediately downstream.
-
Tplaqín / Enderby Cliffs Provincial Park
The Enderby Cliffs are the landmark of the northern Okanagan: at nearly 1,200 metres, the cliffs tower 850 metres above the valley floor and reward the climb with a sweeping view over both the Shuswap and the Okanagan Valley. The 2,299-hectare park sits 5 km northeast of Enderby — from Highway 97A turn east on Cliff Avenue, which becomes Mabel Lake Road, then left on Brash Allen Road to the trailhead. Stay on the designated trail: it crosses a community watershed and the soils are easily damaged. Dogs must be on leash. Small Reeves Lake inside the park is a marshy spot popular for trout fishing. No facilities are listed by BC Parks, so come self-sufficient. The Tplaqín Trail is 6.5 km one way, climbing from the 462-metre trailhead to the 1,150-metre summit — nearly 700 metres of gain — with viewpoints at the 2 km and 3 km marks and a bench partway up; BC Parks calls it strenuous, allows one and a half to two and a half hours each way, warns that falling rock is common, and does not permit bicycles. The upper trail follows the top of the cliffs, so stay on the trail and keep children within reach.
-
Chichester Wetland Park
Chichester Wetland Park is Rutland's neighbourhood wetland, a small City of Kelowna natural park of ponds and tall trees off Fitzpatrick Road where a surprising amount of wildlife packs into a short trail. Nearly 180 species of birds have been recorded here: marsh breeders such as sora, Virginia rail, marsh wren and blackbirds in the cattails, migrating warblers and western tanagers passing through in spring and fall, and a resident flock of mallards that winters on the open water. Painted turtles haul out on the logs on sunny days, and the easy loop is short enough for a lunch-hour visit or a first birding outing with children. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail, free and open year-round, with street parking at the Chichester Court and Sumac Road West entrances. Dogs are welcome on leash — this is the one Kelowna wetland park on the trail that allows them — so keep them close around the water.
-
Crawford Trails – Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park
Crawford is what Kelowna riders call the trail network in the western part of Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park, above the Upper Mission, reached from the Stewart Road East trailhead. Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan describes more than 150 km of multi-use trails here, from flowy singletrack to technical rock gardens and challenging descents, with difficulty ranging from beginner to expert but most routes falling in intermediate or advanced terrain — it is where many local riders learned to mountain bike. BC Parks permits cycling in the park, with e-bikes allowed on signed and designated trails, and warns of natural hazards including steep drop-offs at Crawford Falls and Devil’s Elbow and falling rock; the Little White Trail between Pooley Creek and Upper Crawford is closed. Dogs must be kept under control. The Myra Canyon trestles lie in the same park but are reached from their own trailheads on the Myra and June Springs roads. A pit toilet is provided at the Stewart Road East trailhead; parking costs are not published.
-
Dilworth Mountain Park
Dilworth Mountain is the ridge that rises out of the middle of Kelowna, and the City's park on its crest gives you, in its own words, some of the best vantage points in the city — about 1,000 feet above the valley floor, with downtown Kelowna and Okanagan Lake spread out to the west, the Kelowna Golf and Country Club directly below, and the mountains beyond the lake. The payoff comes cheaply: park in the lot off Chilcotin Crescent and the lookout trail is a short, easy walk, while the gentle Dilworth Ridge Trail loops the top of the mountain for about 2.6 km on gravel through meadows and pockets of forest, passing one lookout after another and the distinctive hoodoo formations on the mountain's flanks. It is a neighbourhood park as much as a viewpoint — there is a small playground for kids, and dogs are welcome on leash on the trails — which makes it an easy sunset stop between dinner downtown and home. One caution: in periods of extreme wildfire risk the City closes the lookout area, so check the park's page in high summer before you head up. Parking is free.
-
Full Cyrcle Adventures
Full Cyrcle Adventures runs guided off-road UTV and 4×4 buggy tours from its base at 4270 Swamp Road in south-east Kelowna — Tourism Kelowna describes it as the city’s only adventure-tour company offering UTV tour experiences. Guests drive their own buggy after a short training session, following a professional guide through mountain roads, forested and rocky trails and scenic lookouts on a two-hour round trip; family off-road and more demanding mountain tours are offered, with departures at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tours are private-group bookings, so a family or group of friends has the trail to themselves. The company also runs chartered boat trips on Okanagan Lake as a separate service.
-
Gillard Trails
Gillard is the Okanagan’s original freeride mountain-bike area, on the hillside south of Kelowna’s Kettle Valley neighbourhood, and is now an official Recreation Sites and Trails BC trail network maintained by Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan. The trails took shape in the late 1990s and remain built for intermediate to expert riders — fast singletrack, jumps of every size, rock gardens and slabs, wooden features and steep technical lines — with enduro, freeride or downhill bikes recommended. It is best ridden as a shuttle network, though MTBCO’s multi-year climbing-trail project now gives riders a way up under their own power. Tourism Kelowna’s route: Lakeshore Road to Chute Lake Road, then Gillard Forest Service Road to the Recreation Sites and Trails BC parking lot about 3.8 km up. Provincial recreation-trail rules ask that pets be kept quiet and under control; parking costs are not published.
-
Graystokes Snowmobile Area – Kelowna Snowmobile Club
The Graystokes is the Central Okanagan's big sledding country: a high plateau of meadows, bowls and forest roads east of Kelowna where the Kelowna Snowmobile Club, riding since 1968, grooms more than 300 kilometres of trail across Graystokes Provincial Park and the Myra-Bellevue zone and keeps eight warm-up cabins stocked and standing — Main Cabin, Hilltop, K-Dog, Uncle Tom's and Whitehouse in the Graystokes, and Doghouse, Canyon Lakes and Priest Creek on the Myra side. The pin here marks the Graystokes Main staging lot; the club also publishes the 201 and Myra staging areas, and its trail maps, GPS waypoints and an interactive Gaia map are free to download. A day pass is $30 including tax, bought online through the club's store before you go, and proof of purchase is checked at the staging areas — BCSF members save $5 at the trailhead. Only snowmobiles are allowed on the groomed trails in winter (no ATVs or tracked side-by-sides), and this is avalanche and backcountry terrain, so ride prepared. The club's annual events and grooming updates are posted on its site and social channels.
-
Hiawatha RV Park
Hiawatha is the campground inside Kelowna: 85 tent and RV sites on Lakeshore Road in the Lower Mission, a few minutes' walk from Gyro and Rotary beaches, the lakeside path and the cafés of Pandosy Village. Full hookups keep the big rigs happy and there is grass for tents, which makes it the rare place where you can do a city holiday — wineries, restaurants, the waterfront — and still sleep under a tarp. It runs from March to the end of September and books up early for July and August.
-
High Rim Trail
The High Rim Trail traces the forested ridge high above Kelowna, Lake Country and Vernon for about 55 km of wild, uncrowded hiking. Pick a section for a day hike with big valley views, or tackle it end to end as a multi-day adventure.
-
Holy Doodle Sailing Charters
Slip away from the dock on a private sail aboard a cozy 8.5-metre yacht. Choose a daytime cruise, a sunset sail or a full-moon night on Okanagan Lake, and help trim the sails or simply relax. May to October.
-
Hydraulic Lake Recreation Site
Hydraulic Lake is the near end of the McCulloch Reservoir and the easier of its two campgrounds to reach — a short turn off Highway 33 rather than a run down the 201 — with 30 sites, a cartop launch and good rainbow fishing on a 10-horsepower lake. The Kettle Valley Rail Trail passes right by, so you can ride to the Myra Canyon trestles from your tent and be back for the evening rise.
-
Inspire Trails – Myra Canyon Ranch
Inspire Trails runs guided horseback trail rides from Myra Canyon Ranch at 4675 June Springs Road in south-east Kelowna, on the way up to the Myra Canyon trestles. Rides go out every morning and afternoon, with a gentle one-hour scenic ride ($125 per person) offering an easy introduction for first-time riders and a panoramic view over the Okanagan Valley; the guides know the trails and the wildlife along them, and riders regularly see eagles, owls, deer and marmots, with a resident great grey owl near the ranch. Inspire reopened at its new home on the ranch on April 20, 2026 and takes bookings online for the season; ride times can shift with the weather.
-
Johns Family Nature Conservancy Regional Park
Johns Family Nature Conservancy is more than 400 hectares of parkland in south Kelowna with panoramic views of the Okanagan Valley and trails that lead to The Crags, a well-known climbing spot. It is also Canada's third Nocturnal Preserve, a Royal Astronomical Society of Canada designation that keeps artificial light to a minimum, so the sky here is as much of a draw as the view. The main parking lot is off Chute Lake Road just outside the city boundary, less than 1 km along the gravel. Hikers can also start from Lakeshore Road: the Lebanon Creek Greenway is a 2.3 km climb with 450 metres of elevation gain up to the top of the Crags, with shorter trails to make a loop or reach the Kettle Valley neighbourhood; its Lakeshore Road vehicle entrance is closed from November 1 to April 1. A washroom is on site, dogs are welcome on leash, and hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November 1 to April 1.
-
KLO Creek Regional Park
KLO Creek Regional Park is a 1.8 km creek-side trail in southeast Kelowna, a short stroll on natural terrain that the Regional District recommends for its cool shade in summer and for the stunning geological formations that also make it a popular spot for climbers. It is beautiful in every season. Dogs are welcome on leash. The parking lot is off McCulloch Road at the switchback over KLO Creek. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.
-
Kangaroo Creek Farm
Kangaroo Creek Farm is the Okanagan's one genuinely surprising animal encounter: a working farm on Old Vernon Road, a few minutes north of Kelowna's airport, where red kangaroos and wallabies lounge in open paddocks you can walk straight into. Feeding the animals and holding a joey are included in the admission — there is no extra charge — and the cast runs well beyond the kangaroos, with common wallaroos, Bennett's, dama and albino wallabies, emus, peacocks, goats, parrots, potbellied pigs and a family of capybaras. The 2026 season runs from June 27 to October 12: daily 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through September 7, daily 10 to 3 for the rest of September, and Saturdays, Sundays and Thanksgiving Monday in October, with last entry at 2:45 p.m. High-season admission (to September 7) is $30 for adults and youth 16 to 64, $15 for children 5 to 15 and $15 for seniors, with children four and under free; from September 8 the rates drop to $20, $10 and $10. Debit, cash, Visa and MasterCard are accepted, and wheelchair users and Access 2 cardholders enter free, though be aware the paths are gravel, dirt and grass. Dogs are not allowed in the animal enclosures (leashed dogs may wait in the picnic area), commercial groups and schools book by email, and the farm asks drivers to avoid the left turn onto Highway 97 at the uncontrolled intersection when leaving.
-
Kasugai Garden
Tucked behind a wall off Water Street, Kasugai Garden is downtown Kelowna's secret calm: stone lanterns, sculpted pines, a waterfall and a koi pond celebrating the city's friendship with Kasugai, Japan. Free, peaceful and just steps from the lake. Open spring to late October.
-
Kelowna Memorial Arena
Memorial Arena is the old downtown rink on Ellis Street, a few blocks from the waterfront, and in winter it hosts City of Kelowna public skating alongside a dedicated Seniors Skate — a quieter, slower session that regulars prize. It is a bring-your-own-skates building: there are no rentals here, so if you need gear, use Rutland Arena or the Stuart Park rental hut instead. Sessions are pre-booked online through the City's recreation portal (bring your confirmation email); admission follows the City scale of $4.75 general, $4 for children 6 to 13, $3 for preschoolers and $12 for a family of two adults and three kids, with the child and preschool rates arranged by phone at 250-469-8800 because online booking sells only the general rate. Public skating returns each October, and a skate here pairs naturally with a downtown lunch or a walk along the lake.
-
Kelowna Nordic Ski and Snowshoe Club
Kelowna's own cross-country and snowshoe area lies in the McCulloch highlands southeast of the city, roughly 20 to 45 minutes from town on paved highway. The club grooms 75 km of double-tracked trails with a good range of difficulty, normally finished by 10 a.m., alongside marked snowshoe trails, warming cabins and designated K-9 trails where dogs are welcome. Three parking areas serve the system: the Kallis lot on Highway 33 just past the Big White Road junction (ski access only), the Summit lot 0.9 km further with ski and snowshoe trails, a shelter and outhouse, and the main lot 4.5 km along McCulloch Road with the cabin and both trail types. Day passes and memberships are sold by the club; check the grooming report before you go.
-
Kelowna Paddle Centre
The Kelowna Paddle Centre is a community-run, non-profit paddling hub on the Okanagan Lake shore at Pandosy Waterfront Park, operated in cooperation with the City of Kelowna to make paddling sports safe and affordable for everyone. Visitors can rent stand-up paddleboards, sit-on-top single and double kayaks, outrigger canoes and surfskis — a two-hour SUP rental is $40 and every rental includes a PFD, paddle and a brief intro lesson — or join drop-in paddles and public programs open to non-members, with youth summer camps in season. It is the easiest place in the city to get onto the water without owning a board, and the calm bay in front of the centre suits first-timers.
-
Knox Mountain Park
Knox Mountain is Kelowna's largest natural area park, 385 hectares rising roughly 300 metres above Okanagan Lake just north of downtown, and its lookouts are the classic view of the city. The park moves from lakeshore to mountain top through riparian, wetland, ponderosa pine bunchgrass and Douglas-fir ecosystems that the City describes as fragile and easily eroded, so stay on the trails. Walking, running, hiking, road and mountain biking, birding and winter recreation are all part of life here. The park is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; vehicles may drive Knox Mountain Drive to the first lookout from noon to 8 p.m. in the frost-free season, and the road closes in winter, for events and in extreme wildfire risk. Motorized vehicles are not permitted elsewhere in the park. Additional parking is at the western base off Poplar Point Drive. Signature routes include the Apex Trail to the upper lookout — about 5 km round trip on dirt trails with stairs, a moderate 45 minutes to an hour and a half — the 3 km lakeshore walk to Paul's Tomb and Kathleen Lake, the 3.2 km road climb from the base to the top, and the Lochview Trail that connects the park's north side. Dogs must be on leash except in the designated off-leash dog park at 450 Knox Mountain Drive, and smoking, vaping and cannabis are banned in all City parks.
♥ Local Favourite
-
Kuipers' Peak Mountain Park
Kuipers' Peak Mountain Park in Kelowna's Upper Mission is a short hike with a big reward: five to ten minutes to the top, with some sections that will get your heart rate up, and a stunning view of Okanagan Lake from the peak. The hillside is still recovering from the 2003 wildfire, and the City also features the park for winter snowshoeing. The trailhead is at 792 Kuipers Crescent, reached via South Ridge Drive. Dogs are allowed on-leash only.
-
Lakefront Sports Centre
Kelowna's one-stop waterfront rental base: grab a boat, jet ski, paddleboard, kayak or bike right on downtown's Water Street, or try flyboarding. It's the easiest way to get out on Okanagan Lake.
-
Luxury Lake Tours
Captained private boat tours on Okanagan Lake, from sightseeing cruises and fishing charters to wine tours that arrive at lakeside wineries by water.
-
MNP Place
MNP Place — the multi-rink complex on Gordon Drive that many locals still call the Capital News Centre — is where Kelowna's hockey players get their drop-in fix. From Thanksgiving to Spring Break the leisure rink opens for weekday public skating, with skate and skate-trainer rentals on hand (no helmet rentals, and helmets are required for anyone under 18). The real draw is the ice-time menu: Stick & Puck sessions run in late-morning and midday slots for skaters of any age who want to work on their shot — $10 to $11 a person, capped at 30 skaters, helmets mandatory with a CSA face cage for under-18s, and strictly no scrimmages, goalies or lessons, because the session is unsupervised. Adult Drop-In Hockey (19+) is a friendly, fast-paced game offered several times a week between late morning and mid-afternoon, and goalies skate free. Everything is booked through the DaySmart Recreation calendar on the venue's site, so check it for the week's times before you drive over.
-
Maude-Roxby Wetland (Bird Sanctuary)
Tucked into the Okanagan Lake shoreline at the end of Francis Avenue in the Pandosy neighbourhood, the Maude-Roxby Wetland is a bird sanctuary you can walk into from a residential street. A raised boardwalk with benches and small piers threads through willow groves and cattail marsh to a viewing platform that juts out over the lake, so you can watch the water and the reeds at the same time with almost no disturbance to what lives there. Winter brings rafts of gulls and waterfowl, with tundra and trumpeter swans possible; spring fills the willows with warblers, vireos and flycatchers; herons, ducks and red-winged blackbirds are here most of the year; and because the site has turned up so many wandering rarities over the years, the Central Okanagan Naturalists' Club keeps a close eye on it. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail and one of Kelowna's best-known birding spots, yet it stays quiet. The boardwalk is wheelchair-friendly and the park is free and open year-round. This is a nature preserve first: no dogs are allowed; parking is on the street. It is about 4 km south of City Park along Abbott Street, an easy bike ride on the lakeside route.
-
McCulloch Reservoir Recreation Site
About an hour up Highway 33 from Kelowna, the McCulloch Reservoir site puts 39 campsites on the shore of the big plateau lake that locals also call Hydraulic Lake: cartop boats and canoes on 10-horsepower water, rainbow trout in the evenings, and the Kettle Valley Rail Trail and Kelowna Nordic's trail network a few minutes away. It is cool up here when the valley is baking, first come and first served, and quiet after eleven by rule. A second Recreation Site, Hydraulic Lake, sits on the same reservoir closer to the highway.
-
McKinley Mountain Park
McKinley Mountain Park is the City of Kelowna's 'Mini Knox': a 17-hectare hillside park in the McKinley area north of the city where a short hike of about 1 km uphill ends at a fantastic view along Okanagan Lake to both north and south. The City lists it as a hidden gem with trails as its amenity, at 1798 Shayler Place. Be aware of wildlife here, including bears and coyotes. Dog status is on-leash.
-
Mill Creek Regional Park
Mill Creek Regional Park is a cool, shaded surprise east of Kelowna's airport: a flat, easy trail under cedars that follows Mill Creek to a set of cascading waterfalls — the Waterfall Trail is only about 800 metres one way, with a short boardwalk section, so it suits small children and anyone after a quick, cool escape. At 13.5 hectares it is small, but the falls, the shade on a hot afternoon and the creek's role as an important wildlife corridor make it worth the short drive into the Ellison area. Washrooms are on site and dogs are welcome on leash. There is a parking area on the west side of Spencer Road and street parking on the east side. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November to March.
-
Mission Creek Greenway Regional Park
The Mission Creek Greenway is Kelowna's great linear park: 16.5 km of multi-use trail following Mission Creek from Okanagan Lake into the hills, linking parks, interpretive viewing areas, rest spots and picnic areas along the way. From the lake the trail is flat and wide — an easy walk or ride — and the difficulty builds through Scenic Canyon, where elevation and stairs take over. Nine main access points have parking, from Lakeshore Road and Truswell Road up to the Field Road lot in Scenic Canyon. Washrooms are on the route, an easy portion of the trail and the washrooms are accessible, and dogs are welcome on leash. It is a shared trail, so keep right, pass on the left, and cyclists must stay under the 15 km/h limit and ring a bell before passing. The Regional District maps the Greenway in sections — 7.5 km from Lakeshore Road to Creekside, 2.3 km from Gerstmar to Hollywood, 7.1 km from Hollywood Road up to Hydraulic Creek, plus a 1.3 km south spur from Casorso Road to Gordon Drive — which is why the mapped total comes to 18.7 km against the 16.5 km headline figure. In 2026 the Gerstmar Bridge project is closing short stretches between Ziprick and Gerstmar roads at times, so follow the detour signs. Hours shift with the seasons (6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.), and some access points get reduced maintenance from November to March.
-
Mission Creek Mountain Bike Skills Park
The Mission Creek Mountain Bike Skills Park is a City of Kelowna bike park on a 3.4-hectare site at 1960 Hollywood Road South, next to the Mission Creek Greenway. Whether you are new to mountain or BMX biking or riding at a high level, it has something to work on: a pump track and four dirt-jump lanes that progress from beginner to expert, with some of the sport’s top riders having contributed to the design. It is also a good spot to catch your breath on a bench and watch the airtime the advanced riders get. Riders can roll in directly from the Greenway, and the City keeps the park open through its seasonal winter closures of other facilities. Parking arrangements and costs are not published on the City’s page.
-
Mission Creek Regional Park
Mission Creek Regional Park is 92 hectares of winding trails, creek and cottonwoods in the heart of Kelowna, and a park that works in every season. It is home to the Robert Hobson Environmental Education Centre for the Okanagan (the EECO, open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and the kokanee spawning channel, so a walk here doubles as a nature lesson. The named trails are gentle — the 3.5 km Soopollalie Trail, the 1.3 km Sutherland Hills Trail, the 1 km Pine Loop and the short Turtle Pond and Kokanee trails, about 7 km of easy walking in all — and the easy trails, washrooms, picnic shelter and playground are all accessible, and dogs are welcome on leash. Portions of the trails are closed while the Gerstmar Bridge trail improvements are built (announced August 2026, with no reopening date yet), so follow the closure signs and detours. The main parking lot is at 2363 Springfield Road with entrances at Durnin and Leckie roads, there is a second lot at the end of Ziprick Road, and three trailheads with street parking along Hall Road. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.
♥ Local Favourite
-
Munson Pond Park
Munson Pond is Kelowna's birding jewel hidden in plain sight: a 9.8-hectare urban wetland near the corner of Benvoulin and KLO roads that protects one of British Columbia's rarest ecosystems, a cottonwood–water birch forest, around a 3.8-hectare pond. A one-kilometre gravel loop circles the water past boardwalks, two viewing platforms and interpretive signs, and the path is accessible, so it works as well for a quiet family walk as for a serious morning with binoculars. More than 225 species have been recorded here, from migrating geese in spring and fall to warblers, waterfowl and the occasional rarity that keeps the local birders coming back, and it is a signed stop on the BC Bird Trail. To protect that wildlife, dogs are not permitted anywhere in the park — bylaw officers visit regularly and do ticket — and it is a place for slow, quiet looking rather than picnics or play. Turn west onto Munson Road off Benvoulin to find the small paved parking lot.
-
Myra Canyon Bicycle Rental & Tours
Skip hauling bikes up the mountain: rent on site at the Myra Canyon trailhead and ride the historic Kettle Valley Railway across 18 trestles and through two tunnels high above Kelowna. Guided tours are available too.
-
Myra Canyon – Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park
Myra Canyon is the Okanagan's signature rail-trail day: the historic Kettle Valley Railway grade curls around the canyon southeast of Kelowna on its trestles, and BC Parks has placed 14 viewpoint benches along the way, with the trestles themselves opening onto the valley and the steep, rocky canyon walls. Walk it or ride it — cyclists are asked to walk their bikes across the trestles, and e-bikes are allowed on the signed trails. Pit toilets sit at the Myra, Ruth and Stewart Road East trailheads and just beyond Trestles 1 and 8. Dogs must be kept under control, and BC Parks notes the backcountry beyond the trail is not suitable for pets. The park stays open through winter, when Little White Mountain offers backcountry skiing and snowshoeing. The classic day is the 12 km one-way section between the Myra and June Springs access points, with 18 trestles and bridges concentrated in an 8.8 km stretch; BC Parks lists roughly 75 parking spots at Myra and about 33 at June Springs, plus the Stewart Road East access from Kelowna. The Little White Trail (Pooley Creek to Upper Crawford) is closed.
-
Okanagan Adventure Park
Okanagan Adventure Park is the new home of the former Myra Canyon Adventure Park, now on Highway 33 east of Kelowna. The park is built around an aerial treetop obstacle course and ziplines, with a guided Zipline Tour through the canopy, a Canyon Swing that reaches speeds of up to 100 km/h, and a dedicated Kid's Course for younger climbers. In the fall shoulder season it opens for drop-in visits on weekends from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with weekdays by advance or same-day phone booking. Everyone signs a liability waiver, and a parent or legal guardian must sign for anyone under 19.
-
Okanagan Ballooning
Float above orchards, vineyards and Okanagan Lake at sunrise on a hot-air balloon tour, one of the most unforgettable ways to see the valley.
-
Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park
Okanagan Mountain is 11,321 hectares of rugged wilderness on the east shore of Okanagan Lake, opposite Peachland, with no public roads inside it — which is exactly its appeal. From the north parking lot, the Boulder Loop runs 5 km (about 3 hours, easy) and the Old C.N. Trail 3 km; the Rim Trail, the Pinnacles and the viewpoint near the south lot deliver the big views, and the canyons are good country for spotting sheep, goats and elk. The south lot is reached through Naramata on Chute Lake Road, 6 km of gravel followed by 1.5 km of very rough road. Paddlers can string together day trips or multi-day trips along the undeveloped shoreline, camping at the marine campsites and swimming in the bays. Mountain biking is allowed on the signed trails (e-bikes on designated trails), horses have their own routes, and the park has pit toilets only. Dogs must stay on leash.
-
Okanagan Parasail
Okanagan Parasail lifts off from the Waterfront Promenade on the downtown Kelowna waterfront, behind the Delta hotel and right on the boardwalk. You launch from the back of the boat and land on it again, and from up there the whole sweep of Okanagan Lake opens out — the city on one side, dry hills on the other. Flights go up solo, double or triple, so you can share the view rather than take it in alone. Parasailing is one of the few Okanagan activities that puts you above the lake instead of on it, and it takes no experience: the crew straps you in, lets the line out, and reels you back to the deck. The season runs April through September, with the boat out from 9 am until dusk.
-
Ponds Park & Trail
The Ponds Park & Trail offers over two kilometres of paved trail in Kelowna's Upper Mission with excellent views of Okanagan Lake and the city. The City describes it as flat and accessible to everyone, including people using motorized scooters or wheelchairs, which makes it one of the few view walks in the valley that everyone can share. Bring the kids for the playground in the park that overlooks the city. Dogs can come too — just make sure they are on a leash. The park is at 1213 Frost Road.
-
Postill Lake Lodge
Postill Lake Lodge is a lakeside-cabin and fly-fishing resort in the hills north-east of Kelowna, at 11950 Postill Lake Road. Spring is the resort’s prime season: the lake’s nutrient-rich water makes for excellent fishing, especially fly fishing, for rainbow trout and speckled brook trout, and you can bring your own boat or rent one at the lodge. Beyond Postill Lake itself, guests have wilderness access to five nearby trout lakes, including Roddy Lake, for anyone who wants to explore. Accommodation runs from lakefront cottages and lodge suites to camping and seasonal rentals, with winter stays as well; reservations are taken online. A BC freshwater fishing licence is required on all of these waters.
-
Robert Lake Regional Park
Robert Lake is not a park you walk through — it is a park you look at, and for birders that is exactly the point. This shallow alkaline lake in the Glenmore Valley north of Kelowna is a rare prairie-style salt flat, and its salty water draws more than 140 species, including breeding American avocets, black-necked stilts and Wilson's phalaropes that you will not find on the big lakes, along with green-winged teal, northern pintail and ruddy ducks, and a parade of shorebirds during the August migration. To protect the nesting habitat the Regional District has built no trails and allows no access to the shoreline; instead there is a small parking area at the end of Curtis Road with an information kiosk and a viewing spot, so bring a spotting scope or good binoculars and settle in. The lot is bordered by private land on both sides, so stay within the park area and approach quietly. Robert Lake is a stop on the BC Bird Trail, it is free, and it is open year-round on the regional parks' seasonal hours (6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in winter, later in summer). Spring and late summer are the seasons to come.
-
Rotary Marsh Park
Rotary Marsh is downtown Kelowna's wild corner: a restored wetland at the north end of Waterfront Park, beside the lakeside promenade and ringed by high-rises, where gravel paths and wooden boardwalks wind between cattails and marshy ponds. Opened in 1995 as a Rotary conservation project, it now supports around a hundred bird species, dozens of native plants and five kinds of mammal, and it is the easiest place in the city to see wildlife that is genuinely at risk in British Columbia — painted turtles basking on logs, great blue herons stalking the shallows, and a pair of ospreys that nest each summer on the platform out in the marsh. In winter, loons, grebes, hooded mergansers and diving ducks gather off the point, and a jetty lets you scan the open lake. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail and a five-minute walk from the downtown cafés, so it slots easily into a waterfront stroll. The park is free and open year-round, and, as a wildlife refuge, no dogs are allowed.
-
Rutland Arena
Rutland Arena is Kelowna's public-skating workhorse: two NHL-sized sheets on Dodd Road where the City runs open public skates, parent-and-tot sessions and dedicated seniors' skates through the winter, with the season reopening each October. It is the easiest place in the city to skate without owning gear, because the rental counter carries skates, helmets and push-along skate bars, and there is sharpening on site — the same rental line (866-313-5071) can answer sizing questions before you come. Public skating is pre-booked online through the City's recreation portal up to seven days ahead; bring the confirmation email as your ticket. General admission is $4.75, with children 6 to 13 at $4, preschoolers $3 and a family pass for two adults and three kids at $12. Only the general rate is sold online, so call Active Living & Culture at 250-469-8800 in advance to pay a child or preschool rate. Also known locally as the Rutland Twin Arena.
-
Scenic Canyon Regional Park
Scenic Canyon is where the Mission Creek Greenway turns wild: a 229-hectare natural area in southeast Kelowna where the trails follow Mission Creek and KLO Creek beneath Layer Cake Mountain and Pinnacle Rock, two of the valley's most striking geological features. The Greenway runs right through the park — its Hollywood Road to Hydraulic Creek section is 7.1 km and rated moderate, with stairs and bridges — so it suits walkers who want more than a flat stroll, while the park's own short trails add the 1.2 km Saskatoon Trail, the 230-metre Rock Ovens Trail past the old stone ovens and the steep 240-metre Pinnacle Trail, rated difficult. The Black Bear Trail is currently closed and parts of the park are closed for hazards; obey the signs. Washrooms, picnic tables and viewpoints are in the park, and dogs are welcome on leash. Park at the end of Field Road or at the Hollywood Road South entrance; the Field Road and McCulloch Road vehicle entrances are closed from November to March, when maintenance is reduced. Hours shift with the seasons, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.
-
Splash BC Floating Water Park – Kelowna
Splash BC’s Kelowna water park floats just off Hot Sands Beach in City Park, the green heart of downtown — a full-scale inflatable adventure course of towers, slides, climbers, balance beams and monkey bars anchored on Okanagan Lake, scaled for first-time climbers and the adults who insist they are only watching. It is open to ages five and up; children aged five to seven must be accompanied on the park by a supervising adult (19+), with discounted chaperone passes available. A day pass ($34) gives all-day come-and-go access during operating hours and an evening pass ($24) covers 5 to 7 p.m.; private sessions can be booked. The park operates through the summer season and the beach, concession and waterpark of City Park are steps away.
-
Stuart Park Outdoor Rink
Skating at Stuart Park is Kelowna's signature winter picture: a free outdoor rink on the downtown waterfront with Okanagan Lake and the Bennett Bridge as the backdrop, the Sails sculpture a block away and cafés and restaurants on every side. The rink opens in early December, weather permitting, and skating costs nothing — bring your own skates and a helmet, or use the rental hut, which runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily with kids' skates for $4, adult skates for $5, helmets for $2 and push-along EZ bars for $2. The rental shop closes when the temperature drops below −10°C, so on the coldest days come equipped. In some seasons the City has asked skaters to book a time slot online, so check the City's skating page before a holiday-week visit. Stuart Park is also home to the Winter Street Market and Light Up in the run-up to Christmas, which turns an evening skate into a full night out downtown.
-
Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park
Woodhaven is a peaceful forested park in Kelowna's Lower Mission where a single trail system passes through four distinct natural ecosystems — a black cottonwood zone, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine and western red cedar — in just under 30 hectares. It is home to endangered species and a historical irrigation flume, and it is one of the few regional parks where dogs are not allowed at all, which keeps it quiet for wildlife and for walkers. The trails themselves are short — about 1.4 km of interlinked loops (Main, Perimeter, Flume, Saskatoon and the Dry and Wet Interior trails) — so this is an unhurried hour rather than a workout, and one part of the property is closed to public access. Washrooms are on site. The parking lot is off Raymer Road. Hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.; maintenance is reduced from November 1 to April 1, and the park can close without notice in extreme weather such as high winds or heavy snow.
-
sntsk‘il’ntən–Black Mountain Regional Park
sntsk‘il’ntən–Black Mountain is a vast 640-hectare regional park on Kelowna's eastern slopes, where trails climb through endangered grasslands to open viewpoints over the city and the valley. The park carries an nsyilxcən name — the Regional District offers an audio clip to help with pronunciation — and was created through a collective effort to protect this landscape; further park development is still underway, so expect a natural, lightly built experience rather than a finished network. Seven named trails already cover about 13 km — the 3.3 km sntsk‘il’ntən Trail, the 2.7 km Grassland Trail, the 2 km Coyote and Ephemeral Pond trails, the 1.5 km Flume Trail, the 1 km Ridge Trail and the short Hoodoo Trail, rated easy to moderate — while the difficult Summit Loop is currently closed and a section of the park is closed for conservation. Dogs are welcome on leash. There is a parking area off Swainson Road, and the park can also be entered through Tower Ranch Hillside Park, with street parking on Tower Ranch Drive. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November to March.
-
Al-ways Fishing Charters
Al-ways Fishing Charters is Captain Al McPhail’s guided fishing operation on the North Okanagan’s lakes, based at 12075 Oceola Road in Lake Country. Trips depart from the dock at Wood Lake RV Park & Marina, 2930 Woodsdale Road, Lake Country — not from the Oceola Road address. The signature trip cruises across Wood Lake and runs up the connecting channel into Kalamalka Lake — the lake of a thousand colours — where the fishing is for kokanee and trout in some of the most scenic water in the valley. Guests praise his patience and local knowledge, and trips suit first-timers as much as regulars. Book directly with the operator; a BC freshwater fishing licence is required.
-
Beaver Lake Mountain Resort
Beaver Lake Mountain Resort is a four-season lake resort at 1,402 metres on Beaver (Swalwell) Lake, reached by Beaver Lake Road above Lake Country. Fishing is the everyday activity here: the resort rents boats from its boat park and can supply a rod and tackle if you arrive without them, so a first-time angler can be on the water within the hour, while the trail network, swimming beach and wellness spa fill the rest of a stay. Accommodation includes cabins, suites and campsites in a park-like setting, with midweek off-season specials. Bring a BC freshwater fishing licence; the resort is about 17 km from the valley floor on a mountain road.
-
Bridlewood Riding Centre
Saddle up for a guided trail ride across hundreds of acres of Lake Country ranchland, with rides tailored for every ability from first-timers to seasoned riders.
-
Dee Lake Wilderness Resort
Dee Lake Wilderness Resort is a heritage fishing resort established in 1926 on Dee Lake, one of the chain of trout lakes in the high country between Lake Country and Vernon. Guests spend their days fishing from the resort’s waters, paddling a canoe, kayak or paddleboard across the quiet lake, walking the forest trails or settling in around a campfire; two heritage lodges, rustic log cabins, full-service lakeside cottages and well-treed RV sites cover every kind of stay, and the resort runs an annual fishing derby. It opens for the summer season each year with all bookings handled online. A BC freshwater fishing licence is required.
-
Island Lake Recreation Site (Dee Lake chain)
Island Lake is the public campground of the Dee Lake chain — the string of trout lakes in the high country behind Winfield — with 34 forested sites on a lake full of small, keen rainbows. It is a fee-for-service Recreation Site, so expect a modest nightly charge and tables and toilets in return, and Beaver Lake Mountain Resort's store is a few minutes back down the road if you forget the coffee. The lake is a water supply and its level moves through the season; bring a canoe rather than a big boat.
-
Jack Seaton Park
Jack Seaton Park is a District of Lake Country destination park that pairs softball diamonds, a padel court and a playground with a small network of natural trails suitable for all skill levels. The trail length is 3.14 km round trip, with an accessible viewpoint that overlooks Okanagan Lake, and the trails cross rocky bluffs burned in the 2017 wildfire and pass an old reservoir and heritage flume. A designated parking area, picnic area and washroom are provided, and the park is open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Dogs must be on leash.
-
Lake Country Bike Park
Lake Country’s Bike Park is a six-hectare, purpose-built mountain-bike park at 8865 Okanagan Centre Road West with views over Okanagan Lake. The District built it with progression in mind: a kid- and beginner-friendly pump track and a green flow trail, an intermediate pump track and technical skills loop, two blue gravity trails, a drop zone, advanced and expert dirt jumps, multi-use trails and an adaptive mountain-bike trail. It is open daily from dawn to dusk, March to November (weather dependent), and is unsupervised — features can be hazardous, so ride within your ability. Helmets are mandatory and full-face helmets and padding are strongly recommended; the park is non-motorized; stay off the trails when they are wet; and obey closures through the winter months and during extreme weather. Dogs must be leashed at all times and are not permitted on the bike trails or in the Jump, Skills, Drop or Pump Track zones. Parking arrangements and costs are not published on the District’s page.
-
Okanagan Rail Trail
The Okanagan Rail Trail follows the former CN rail bed for roughly 50 km between Coldstream and Kelowna, and 16 km of it run through the District of Lake Country. From the north the compact gravel trail hugs the shoreline of marl-blue Kalamalka Lake and passes under a historic trestle, crosses the Oyama isthmus with its seasonal cafes, shops and Wood Lake beaches, then follows the east shore of Wood Lake past Ribbleworth Falls, orchards and farmland; the Kelowna section is paved. It is an easy, flat multi-use trail shared with cyclists, and dogs must be on leash. The Regional District of North Okanagan lists trailhead parking at 8203 Westkal Road in Coldstream, at Kekuli Bay Provincial Park and at College Way in Vernon, with further access points along Lake Country's section. The trail is not yet continuous: a gap of about 7 km near the Kelowna boundary remains undeveloped, so check the current map before planning a through-trip.
♥ Local Favourite
-
Okanagan Stables
Okanagan Stables offers guided trail rides in the hills of Oyama, in Lake Country between Kelowna and Vernon, from its stables on the land between Talbot Road and Pada Road. Four ride programs suit different ages and comfort levels — from a mini introduction for the youngest or most nervous riders to longer trail rides for confident ones — and the standard ride times are 9:00 and 11:00 a.m., with spectacular views over Wood Lake and Kalamalka Lake from the trails. The stables have operated at this location since 2018 and pride themselves on putting first-time riders at ease; bookings and gift cards are handled online.
-
Oyama General Store Paddle Rentals
The Oyama General Store is a family-run hub on the Oyama isthmus — the strip of land between Wood Lake and Kalamalka Lake, 25 minutes from Kelowna and on the Okanagan Rail Trail — and its rental shop sits right on the beach, so you launch from either lake shore without carrying anything far. Inflatable stand-up paddleboards and sit-on-top kayaks are booked online in minutes, from $50 for a half day (three hours) for a board and $59 for a kayak, and the shop is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., April to October. Groceries, liquor, e-bike rentals and Lu Lou’s Lakeside Grill next door on the beach round out the stop. Turn from Highway 97 onto Pelmewash Parkway toward the isthmus; the store is on the water.
-
Oyama Lake Lodge
Oyama Lake Lodge is a fishing resort on Oyama Lake, an 800-acre volcanic lake with 27 islands to explore and depths to 87 feet, which is why it holds trout of all sizes. The lodge has 18 cabins of varying size, glamping tents, camping and small RV sites and even a converted school bus, and it rents 14-foot motorboats so you can reach the best fishing water; the boat launch is free for guests and $10 for day visitors, and the lake is also a good swim for kids. To get there, drive up the logging road from Oyama past the Oyama Zipline and keep going — there is no street address and 4WD is recommended, so follow the operator’s directions at oyamalake.com/info/. A BC freshwater fishing licence is required.
-
Oyama Zipline Adventure Park
A family-run zipline and aerial park in the forest above Oyama, open since 2011. The guided Zip Tour covers 5,300 feet of cable over 70 wooded acres, with rope bridges, a centre dismount line and three side-by-side racing lines, and takes two to three hours for anyone between 50 and 270 lb. The Aerial Obstacle Park is a high-ropes course of 27 obstacles that includes six ziplines of its own, and the Monkey Kids Play Park gives three- to eleven-year-olds a netted climbing area of their own. Private zip tours can be arranged for groups.
-
Pelmewash Parkway
Pelmewash Parkway is a beautiful, peaceful waterfront pathway along the west side of Wood Lake. The paved multi-use path runs continuously from Winfield to Oyama, giving safe public access to and along the lakeshore for cyclists, walkers and anyone rolling at an easy pace, for all ages and abilities. At its north end it links to the Okanagan Rail Trail and at its south end to Pretty Road, so it slots neatly into a longer ride or a short lakeside stroll. The District's 2025 trail map lists the parkway at 6.8 km and wheelchair accessible, and the trailhead for the Spion Kop hiking trails is midway along it. Dogs on leash.
-
Spion Kop Recreation Reserve
Spion Kop is Lake Country's summit trail system: over 17 km of marked trails and connectors in a 350-hectare wilderness recreation reserve above Wood Lake, ranging from easy/moderate to most difficult and winding through cool forest and grassy slopes along old glacial ridges, bluffs and basalt cliffs. All trails ultimately lead to the Spion Kop summit and its 360-degree view of Wood, Ellison, Kalamalka and Okanagan lakes, the Oyama benchlands and isthmus, and Little White, Knox, Bear, Terrace and Silver Star mountains. The District's trail map lists the Summit Trail at 2.4 km, Lupine at 5.6 km, Tower at 5.2 km and Paintbush and Ridge Line at 1.5 km each, and notes heritage horse-logging trails and stretches of the historic Old Mission Road. Large raptors, mule deer, bears and coyotes live here. Marked trails are recommended for hiking; parking and access are at the trailheads, including one midway along Pelmewash Parkway. Some 420 acres on the southwest side are private property — no trespassing. Keep dogs on leash.
-
Swalwell (Beaver) Lake Recreation Site
Beaver Lake — Swalwell Lake on the maps — has a public side as well as a resort: a 14-site Recreation Site with its own boat launch next door to Beaver Lake Mountain Resort, where you can pitch a tent for next to nothing and fish the same water that gets 35,000 stocked rainbows a year. It is user-maintained and first come, so treat it gently and bring what you need; the resort's cabins, boat rentals and store are a short walk away if you want a bit more comfort.
-
Winfield Arena
Winfield Arena is Lake Country's small-town rink on Bottom Wood Lake Road, and it keeps skating cheap and simple: the Sunday afternoon public skate (3 to 4 p.m.) and the Wednesday evening session (7 to 8 p.m.) are free, and Friday night's DJ Skate from 7:30 to 9 p.m. costs $2 for ages 8 to 17 and $4 for adults, with children seven and under always free. Ten-visit punch cards are $15 for youth and $35 for adults. There are no skate rentals or sharpening at the arena, so bring your own, and helmets are recommended. For hockey players the highlight is Friday-night Adult Shinny from 9:15 to 10:45 p.m. — $7, goalies free — which is registration-only through the District's online system; the window opens Thursday at 1 p.m. and closes Friday at 3:30 p.m., so book early because it fills. Check the District calendar for the season's dates and any cancellations.
-
Wood Lake Fishing Dock
The Wood Lake Fishing Dock is a fully accessible public fishing dock with an accessible kayak launch at the south end of Pelmewash Parkway in Lake Country, connected by a ramp to the dog off-leash beach beside the Four Food Chiefs sculpture. It was five years in the making: the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, the Oceola Fish and Game Club, the Rotary Club of Lake Country and the District of Lake Country funded it, crews floated the sections into place in October 2024, and the Society lists it as a completed featured project from the 2025 season. It gives anglers of every ability a place to fish Wood Lake’s kokanee and trout water from shore, with a parking lot at the access park. A BC freshwater fishing licence is required and Wood Lake regulations apply.
-
Wood Lake RV Park & Marina
Wood Lake RV Park is twelve acres of lawn and old willows on the shore of Wood Lake in Lake Country: 176 full-service RV sites, a 69-slip marina with daily moorage for visiting boats, a beach, a clubhouse and an enclosed dog park, with great blue herons and mallards working the mouth of Winfield Creek beside the sites. It sells by the night from mid-April to mid-October — with peak and shoulder rates — as well as seasonal stays, and keeps a couple of dozen sites open for winter camping. RVs only; the Okanagan Rail Trail and Kaloya beach are minutes away.
-
Camel's Hump
Camel's Hump is the two-humped mountain you see looking east from Lumby, the core of a volcano about 40 million years old, and Tourism Vernon rates the 5.5 km trail Difficult. The hike starts with 1.1 km along the road from the parking area, then climbs close to 200 metres through forest to the first hump and its viewpoint, drops about 75 metres into the saddle, and scrambles up a small rock face to the second summit, where the trail circles a rocky ridge with views over Lumby and Lavington, north to the Mabel Lake valley and SilverStar, and east to the Monashees before returning the same way. Access is by forest service road: from Highway 6 east of Lumby turn onto Creighton Valley Road, then Clier Lake Forest Service Road, then Camel's Hump Forest Service Road, staying left to the parking area 5 km in. Dogs must be leashed under the regional dog-control bylaw.
-
Cottonwood Beach Recreation Site (Mabel Lake)
Cottonwood Beach is the Lumby side of Mabel Lake: 49 forest campsites behind a sandy swimming beach on the quieter east shore, reached by a good gravel road that turns off the Mabel Lake Forest Service Road at the 27-kilometre mark. It is a little smaller and a little calmer than Noisy Creek across the lake, with the same clear, cold water and room to launch a boat if you have all-wheel drive. No reservations, no services — bring firewood, water and everything you plan to eat.
-
Denison Lake Trail
Denison Lake Trail leads into Denison-Bonneau Provincial Park, a pocket of pristine subalpine lakes and old-growth forest in the Okanagan Highlands east of Lumby. Tourism Vernon rates the full 9.8 km route Moderate: walk about 2.5 km up an old spur road, then a lollipop loop through shaded forest, over a bridge on Creighton Creek and across a swampy stretch on old logs to the lake, where there are picnic spots, an outlet waterfall and a rock pile with views; an alternate, more open route returns to the road. BC Parks describes the in-park segment as a 2 km hiking trail that begins outside the park boundary off the Bonneau Lake Forest Service Road. From Highway 6 turn right on Creighton Valley Road, then right on Bonneau Lake FSR; after 6 km the trailhead is an old spur road on the right, with a larger parking area 400 metres further on. There is no park signage until you are inside, and poles help on the log crossings. Pets must be on a leash at all times.
-
Echo Lake Resort
Echo Lake Resort has been putting families on a quiet mountain lake since 1943, and it still works the way a lake resort should. Twenty minutes east of Lumby up Creighton Valley Road, seventeen campsites — non-powered tent sites and powered sites for trailers up to 30 feet — sit back from the water alongside seven lakefront cabins and a pair of small camping cabins for the in-between crowd, all served by a proper wash house with hot showers and flush toilets. The lake is the point: a swim dock and beach for the kids, a private boat launch, and a rental fleet of fishing boats, pedal boats, kayaks, canoes and paddleboards, with the store stocking tackle, ice cream and the essentials you forgot. Rainbow trout and kokanee keep the anglers busy at dawn, the playground keeps everyone else busy after breakfast, and Wi-Fi reaches the store if you must. The resort opens May 1 and closes for the season on Thanksgiving Monday; book online, and note the group-camping policies if you are bringing the whole clan.
-
Freedom Flight Park & School
Freedom Flight Park & School is the North Okanagan’s free-flight base at 249 Mabel Lake Road in Lumby, a 20-minute drive from Vernon and about an hour from Kelowna. It offers tandem paragliding and hang-gliding flights for first-timers who want to fly with an instructor, powered trike flights, and lessons for anyone who wants to learn to fly for themselves, from a flight park set against the hills of the Lumby valley. Tourism Vernon lists it alongside Okanagan Skydive as one of the region’s two aerial-sport operators. Flights depend on the day’s wind and weather, so bookings are arranged with the school in advance.
-
Gold Panner Campground
Gold Panner is the campground at Cherryville on the Shuswap River, forty minutes east of Vernon on Highway 6, and it is under new owners as of spring 2026: riverside tent and RV sites, a wash house with hot coin showers from the May long weekend to Thanksgiving, and the Monashee gold-rush country on the doorstep. It is the natural overnight between Lumby and Sugar Lake, and the last showers before the recreation sites up the road. Pricing moves with the season, so book online.
-
Lumby Salmon Trail
The Lumby Salmon Trail is the village's easy nature walk: three interconnected trails along Bessette and Duteau creeks, the easternmost spawning grounds for Coho and Chinook salmon in the Okanagan, linked through the downtown streets so that walks can run from as short as 1 km to as long as 8 km. The terrain is flat and accessible to wheelchairs, prams and bicycles, with interpretive signs and touch-and-play activities for young children along the way; the Village runs guided walks from June to August. Your leashed pet is welcome and doggie bags are provided. The Lumby Lions campground sits at the head of the trail, and the Village has not published a separate trailhead address.
-
Mabel Lake Provincial Park
Mabel Lake is the North Okanagan’s big-beach detour: a very large fine-sand beach with a buoyed swim area, worth the 36 km drive up Mabel Lake Road from Lumby. Shaded picnic tables, a playground and 16 flush toilets take care of a long day, and a designated dog beach means the dog is welcome too. Boaters have a concrete launch. There are no lifeguards. The gate is open roughly April to October, and the lot holds about 45 vehicles. The campground is a destination in its own right: 114 reservable sites in three loops — Monashee, Trinity and Taylor Creek — plus a group site, with 16 flush toilets, nine water taps, fire rings and a concrete boat launch and dock beside the marina; the 1 km 'Changing Rainforest' interpretive trail winds through moss-carpeted cedar and hemlock between the sites, and painted turtles bask at Taylor Creek. Gate opening dates depend on snow.
🐾 Dog Friendly
-
Pat Duke Memorial Arena
Lumby's Pat Duke Memorial Arena, built as a Centennial project in 1967, is the village's winter living room: a single standard-size ice sheet with change rooms that hosts minor hockey, figure skating and the men's and women's hockey leagues — and, for visitors, free public skating. There is no charge for public skating or for the parent-and-tot and seniors' skate sessions, which makes it one of the best-value ice times in the North Okanagan and a natural stop on a snowy day heading for the Monashees. The schedule lives on the Regional District of North Okanagan's online booking calendar and changes week to week, and the arena closes to public skating on Lumby Minor Hockey tournament weekends, so check the calendar or call 250-547-2171 before you go. Bring your own skates.
-
Spectrum Lake Trail (Monashee Provincial Park)
Spectrum Lake is the North Okanagan's gateway to true mountain wilderness: a 6 km trail into Monashee Provincial Park that BC Parks rates easy and times at about two hours one way, on a hard-packed, three-foot-wide tread with boardwalks and bridges over the wet ground, through Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, birch, cedar and hemlock to a moss-carpeted lakeshore with 16 tent platforms, shelters and food caches. Partway in, two viewing platforms hang over Spectrum Creek at Rainbow Falls, one looking down the whole drop and one close enough to feel the spray. Strong hikers keep going: the Little Peters Trail climbs 5 km of steep switchbacks and alder-choked avalanche chutes out of the basin (3 to 4 hours, rated difficult), the Big Peters Trail rolls on through subalpine spruce and fir to Big Peters Lake 13 km from the trailhead (about 800 metres of climbing in all), and beyond that lie Margie Lake, Fawn Lake and the 2,697-metre summit of Mount Fosthall, where caribou, wolverine and pikas share the meadows. Dogs are not permitted anywhere in the park, to protect the red-listed mountain caribou; mountain bikes are not permitted on the trail, horses are. Backcountry camping is first come, first served at $5 per person per night. Getting there is part of the commitment: Highway 6 east through Lumby to Cherryville, 46 km up Sugar Lake Road to the km-22 turnoff, then 16 km of Spectrum Creek Forest Service Road to the trailhead parking lot, with active logging traffic on both roads and a log-sorting area that can trouble low-clearance vehicles. The park is open year-round when the road allows, and subzero temperatures are common in the subalpine even in summer, so pack for weather.
-
Sugar Lake 2 Mile Recreation Site
Sugar Lake is the big, cold Monashee lake behind Cherryville, and 2 Mile is its main campground: 62 open, level sites on the shore, a boat launch, and some of the best trout and char fishing in the North Okanagan an hour east of Vernon. It is large and easy to get into with a trailer, and it is strictly first come, first served — Recreation Sites and Trails BC spells out that no reservations exist for any Sugar Lake site — so for a summer weekend, arrive Thursday. The Gold Panner campground and Cherryville's store are back on Highway 6.
-
Chute Lake Lodge
Chute Lake Lodge sits in the mountains above the Naramata Bench on the Kettle Valley Railway, at the end of a scenic drive where the final 8 km is a gravel mountain road once you leave the vineyards — check your mapping app’s route before you set out. Chute Lake is stocked with rainbow trout and has a boat launch, and the lodge rents fishing gear with aluminum boats, along with canoes and paddleboards, e-bikes for the rail trail and snowshoes in winter; it also has a restaurant, cabins and camping, so a fishing day can turn into a weekend. Motorboats are limited on the lake, so ask the lodge before bringing one, watch for moose on the road up, and bring a BC freshwater fishing licence.
-
KVR Trail – Naramata Bench (Little Tunnel & Adra Tunnel)
The Kettle Valley Rail Trail above the Naramata Bench is the South Okanagan's signature rail-grade walk: packed gravel at an easy to moderate grade, suitable for all ages, with the Little Tunnel viewpoint and its sweep down Okanagan Lake toward Skaha as the classic goal — about 9 km round trip from the Smethurst Road parking lot. Beyond it the 485-metre Adra Tunnel, 8 km along the grade from the Glenfir lot (km 192 to km 184), reopened on May 26, 2026 after the Regional District finished resurfacing, parking improvements, benches, picnic tables, bike racks, split-rail fencing, wayfinding signs and a pit toilet at the north lot; the tunnel is unlit, so bring a proper light, carries two-way foot and bike traffic, has a bypass trail 175 metres west of the north portal, and closes seasonally from late November. For a short visit, the Smethurst staging area is 2.5 km by road past the Glenfir lot and only about 750 metres on foot from the lower tunnel via the marked service road. Along the way, Rock Ovens Park preserves the stone bread ovens that railway crews built beside the right-of-way between 1911 and 1915 — a Regional District park geared to hikers and bikers. The corridor is shared with cyclists, horses and licensed off-road vehicles. Regional District parks regulations require dogs to be leashed.
-
Naramata Centre Campground
The Naramata Centre's campground is the only place to camp in Naramata village, and it is one of a kind: three shaded camping areas on the retreat centre's 23-acre property beside Okanagan Lake — Eastside for RVs, Creekside and Southside for tents — an easy walk to Manitou Beach, the wharf, the general store and the cafés, with the Naramata Bench wineries a short ride up the hill. The prices are higher than a provincial park and there is a two-night minimum, but nowhere else in the South Okanagan lets you camp inside a lakeside village.
-
Naramata Creek Park Waterfall Trail
Naramata Creek Park is the village's waterfall walk: a 2.5 km round trip on an unpaved, packed trail up the forested creek to a series of falls, easy to moderate, with the creek crossed two or three times along the way, which makes it a favourite of families and dog walkers. It is a Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen park, and its parks regulations require dogs to be on leash. The trail starts from the Naramata Creek Park parking lot. It is best in summer — too icy in winter, and the water runs too high to cross safely in spring.
-
Sun n’ SUP
Sun n’ SUP is Naramata’s stand-up paddleboard and beachwear shop, in the village at 151-176 Robinson Avenue across from the General Store, 15 minutes from downtown Penticton. Hourly rentals come with a SUP cart so you can wheel your board down to one of the three village beaches — Manitou, Centre Beach or Wharf Park — and if the wind picks up there are two protected bays to paddle in; the water here is far less busy than in town. Boards suit beginners and experienced paddlers alike, a standard paddle and PFD are included, lessons are offered, and the shop hosts group paddles for weddings and get-togethers. It operates April through September (closed Mondays and Tuesdays in April and May, except Victoria Day), with a credit-card deposit on all rentals.
-
Vaseux Lake Provincial Park
Vaseux Lake is the Okanagan beach for people who want the lake without the engines: as a Migratory Bird Sanctuary it bans motorized boats, so the beach, which runs the length of the campground and continues along the shore, belongs to swimmers, canoes and kayaks, birds and anglers. A day-use area off the Canadian Wildlife Service parking lot has two picnic tables down a short path to the water, and there are 12 first-come campsites. Facilities are basic: four pit toilets, no flush, and a permanent boil-water advisory. Dogs must stay leashed and out of the beach areas, and there are no lifeguards. Open year-round with the gate closed off-season; accessibility information is available. The 12 sites are first-come, first-served year-round; in the off-season the gate is closed and you walk in from it, with a winter fee and no services.
-
Vaseux Lake Wildlife Centre & Migratory Bird Sanctuary
Vaseux Lake is the Okanagan's one federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and the Wildlife Centre at its north end is the place to see why. Managed by the Canadian Wildlife Service as part of the Vaseux-Bighorn National Wildlife Area, the site is simple and superb: a small gravel parking lot off Highway 97 about 5 km south of Okanagan Falls, an information kiosk, and a boardwalk that runs out through the rushes to an enclosed two-storey wildlife viewing tower with the lake, the marsh and McIntyre Bluff spread out in front of you. More than 200 bird species have been recorded here — trumpeter swans and great blue herons, wood ducks, blue-winged teal and wigeon, Lazuli buntings in the thickets — and the cliffs and grasslands around the lake are home to California bighorn sheep, badgers, painted turtles, the pallid bat and the rare night snake, so bring binoculars and take your time. The boardwalk and viewing tower are open for day use year-round, admission is free, and the entry level of the tower is wheelchair accessible. Because this is a Migratory Bird Sanctuary, pets are not permitted on the site and motorized boats are banned on the lake, which is also why the water stays so quiet. The parking area sits inside the boundary of Vaseux Lake Provincial Park, whose campground and beach are a separate BC Parks destination along the east shore; the two make an easy pairing, but the sanctuary boardwalk is its own reason to stop.
-
White Lake Grasslands Protected Area
White Lake is the South Okanagan at its most elemental: a broad, bone-dry basin of bunchgrass, sage and antelope-brush west of Okanagan Falls, ringed by open ponderosa pine and rock outcrops, with the white alkali lake glaring at its centre and the domes of the observatory on the ridge. BC Parks protects it first and foremost for what lives here — this is one of the province's richest pockets of rare grassland species, with badgers and bats, spadefoot toads and rattlesnakes, and a bird list that draws birders from across the country for long-billed curlews on the flats, white-headed woodpeckers in the pines and yellow-breasted chats in the thickets. It is not a developed park: there are no facilities, the few wilderness trails are unmarked and BC Parks asks for map-and-compass skills, and the sensible visit is the White Lake Trail from the small gravel pullout on Fairview–White Lake Road, on The Nature Trust land south of the lake, walked slowly with binoculars in spring or fall. Stay on existing trails, keep dogs leashed, carry water in the heat, and treat the area as the fragile place it is. (McIntyre Bluff lies within the protected area, but the former trail access through Covert Farms has been closed since 2020.)
-
sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ (Okanagan Falls) Provincial Park Campground
sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ — 'little falls' in the Syilx language — is the provincial campground tucked into Okanagan Falls between the Okanagan River and the steep foothills of Mount McLellan, and it is the closest provincial park camping to Penticton. Thirty-one vehicle-accessible sites sit on irrigated lawn under deciduous trees that throw real shade in July and go gold in October; the sites are medium to large and well spaced, with an information shelter at the head of the loop. The flat Kettle Valley Rail Trail runs between the campground and the river, so the village, the beach at Christie Memorial Park and the Skaha Lake shoreline are a fifteen-minute walk or a five-minute ride away. Come in late September and the sockeye salmon are spawning in the river beside your site; birdwatchers and cyclists use the dike trail year-round. All 31 sites are reservable through BC Parks, the gate runs from April 1 to mid-October, pets must be leashed, and the park closes for one weekend each September for the Okanagan Nation's Salmon Feast. Turn onto Green Lake Road from Highway 97 and drive slowly — the entrance is a narrow road with a blind corner.
-
Gallagher Lake Camping & RV Resort
Camp, park the RV or book a cabin beside spring-fed Gallagher Lake, a sunny South Okanagan base with a private beach. You're minutes from Oliver's wineries and the Hike & Bike Trail.
-
Golden Mile Trail
The Golden Mile Trail is Oliver's best-documented hike, a 4 km loop that starts on the scenic property of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards at 537 Tinhorn Creek Road — the winery invites visitors to hike it — and climbs through the vineyard to a gate, then up a moderate incline to a viewpoint over the valley. Where the trail forks, the left path leads to the ruins of the historic Fairview stamp mill and crosses the creek to loop back to the gates. Spring runoff affects both the level and the flow of the creek, so cross at your own risk. Neither the winery nor Destination Osoyoos publishes a dog rule for the trail.
-
Inkaneep Provincial Park Campground
Inkaneep is the smallest provincial campground in the South Okanagan and one of its best-kept secrets: seven vehicle-accessible sites on the bank of the Okanagan River six kilometres north of Oliver, each walled in by thickets of wild rose that give more privacy than most parks ten times the size. It suits tents, vans and small trailers — BC Parks is explicit that fifth wheels and large motorhomes will not fit — and it works on a first-come, first-served basis with no reservations, so a weekday arrival is the way to get a site in July. The reward is waking up in the middle of the Golden Mile wine country with the river a few steps away, Oliver's shops five minutes down the highway and the International Hike and Bike Trail on the river dyke. The gate is open from mid-May to mid-September; pets stay on leash.
-
International Hike and Bike Trail
The International Hike and Bike Trail runs 18.4 km along the Okanagan River channel between the north end of Osoyoos Lake and Oliver, a wide, relatively flat dyke path past vineyards, farms and wineries that is great for all ages on foot or by bicycle; nearly 10 km of it is paved, according to Oliver Tourism. The Osoyoos end is reached at the wooden bridge on Road 22, 8 km north of town, and in Oliver the trail links to the town's parks, including Oliver Community Park at 6359 Park Drive. The Town of Oliver allows dogs off leash on its section of the trail south of Fairview Road, on the west side of the river, from dawn to 9 a.m. year-round; at other times and elsewhere leash rules apply, and the Regional District portion publishes no rule.
-
Anarchist Mountain Lookout
The Anarchist Mountain Lookout is the South Okanagan's great reveal. As Highway 3 climbs out of Osoyoos toward Rock Creek in a series of switchbacks, a signed pullout on the big hairpin turn opens onto the whole picture at once: the town on its sand spit, Osoyoos Lake stretching south across the border into Washington toward Oroville, the vineyards and desert benches of the valley floor, and the mountains stacking up on either side. It is a free, drive-up stop — no trail, no facilities, just a small roadside pullout with room for a handful of cars — and the one thing to know before you go is the approach: the pullout sits on a divided section of the hairpin, so you can only turn into it when travelling eastbound (uphill, away from Osoyoos). Westbound drivers should continue to a safe turnaround and come back up. Sunset is the classic time, when the lake goes gold and the lights of Osoyoos come on below. The lookout is also a stop on the BC Bird Trail, with soaring raptors and Lewis's woodpeckers among the birds to watch for. If you want a picnic, the Ministry of Transportation's Anarchist Mountain rest area with picnic tables and a pit toilet is about 3.7 km further up the highway.
-
Cabana Beach Campground & RV Park
Cabana Beach has been the same family's campground for close to fifty years: 84 sites for tents and smaller RVs, plus a few camping cabins, on Lakeshore Drive on the east side of Osoyoos Lake, laid out so that every site is a one-minute walk to the park's own beach on the warmest lake in Canada. It runs from the May long weekend into October and fills early for July and August.
-
Irrigation Canal Walkway
The Irrigation Canal Walkway is a 4.3 km fully paved loop on the west side of Osoyoos that Destination Osoyoos recommends for cycling, rollerblading and strollers. Starting at the corner of 62nd Avenue, the path overlooks the town’s agricultural landscape and Osoyoos Lake, passes through a tunnel and then loops around the Osoyoos Airport for a close look at the desert ecosystem the area is known for. It is a flat, family-friendly ride that also links into the rest of the town’s paths. Parking arrangements and costs are not published, and no dog rule is published for the walkway.
-
Island View RV Resort
Island View is the all-season RV resort five minutes from downtown Osoyoos: 110 full-service sites and a private beach across Lakeshore Drive on the warmest freshwater lake in Canada, with a seasonal store and coffee bar on site. It publishes nightly, weekly and monthly rates, which makes it as useful for a summer week on the lake as for the snowbird months; some rates carry a three-night minimum, and it is RVs only.
-
Kruger Mountain / Blue Lake / Kilpoola Trails
Osoyoos’ mountain-bike trails are concentrated in one main area west of town on Kruger Mountain and around Blue Lake and Kilpoola — the “Desert Dirt”, as Destination Osoyoos puts it, with rocky hills, open grassland and views over Osoyoos Lake. The system is relatively small but is laid out with numerous multi-trail intersections and short connectors, so riders of any level can mix and match runs without repeating a route; trail-mapping sites chart about 50 trails and 79 km. Destination Osoyoos is clear about the ground it crosses: a mix of park land, conservation area, protected area, range land and private property, held open by a gentleman’s agreement in the small private sections — so tread lightly and leave no trace. Trails carry no official signage, only painted rocks and cairns at some intersections, so bring a trail app. Parking arrangements and costs are not published, and no dog or e-bike rules are published for the area.
-
Lakefront Marina
Explore Canada's warmest lake at your own pace with kayak, paddleboard, water-bike and boat rentals right on Osoyoos Lake.
-
Mount Kobau
Mount Kobau rises west of Osoyoos inside the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area, and its summit road is the one road in the protected area open to motor vehicles. From the top, the short Lookout Trail leads to the site of the former fire lookout, where BC Parks describes a panorama of the Okanagan Valley, Osoyoos Lake and the Similkameen Valley; the 3 km Chopaka Lookout Trail runs through forest and grassland to views over the Similkameen. The protected area is managed for hiking, wildlife viewing, cycling and horseback riding through dry grasslands and open forests that BC Parks describes as one of the four most endangered ecosystems in Canada. The summit road is gravel and maintained infrequently, and parking at the trailheads is limited. Camping and campfires are not permitted, there is no water, mine adits are closed, and dogs must be leashed. The summit is also considered one of the best places in Canada for astronomy and hosts an annual star party.
-
Nk'Mip Campground & RV Resort
Nk'Mip Campground has more lakefront and beach-access sites than any park in the valley: hundreds of tent and RV sites along the east shore of Osoyoos Lake on Osoyoos Indian Band land, with a marina and boat launch, a clubhouse, indoor pool and playground, a dedicated dog beach and sites that take rigs up to 45 feet. Nk'Mip Cellars, the Desert Cultural Centre and the Spirit Ridge resort are up the hill, and the town's beaches and restaurants are five minutes away. It stays open all year, with winter rates for the snowbird season.
-
Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre
Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre, owned and run by the Osoyoos Indian Band, is where the South Okanagan's desert stops being scenery and becomes a living place. The strikingly modern, sustainably built centre opens onto more than 1.5 km of walking trails through wild sage and antelope brush on a 50-acre site above Osoyoos Lake, with interpreters leading guided walks and the Chief's Lookout giving the long view down the valley — bring water, a hat and good shoes. Inside, two multi-sensory theatres bring the legends of Sen'klip the Coyote to life, the Critter Corner introduces a live western rattlesnake and a Great Basin gopher snake alongside the work of the Nk'mip Rattlesnake Research Project, and the Living Lands outdoor exhibit, sculpture gallery and reconstructed village tell the story of the Syilx people and their land. Watch for Calliope hummingbirds, western meadowlarks, California quail and soaring golden eagles and ospreys on the trails; the centre is a stop on the BC Bird Trail. It is open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., year-round, with occasional private-event closures posted on the website. Admission is $19 for adults, $17 for seniors and students, $14 for children under 18 and $43 for a family of two adults and their children. The site is fully accessible — a ramp from the parking lot, gravel pathways and golf-cart tours on request for anyone who needs help with the upper trail — and pets are not permitted on the trails. Allow an hour and a half to two hours, and finish in the gift shop, which stocks Indigenous-made art.
♥ Local Favourite
-
Osoyoos Desert Centre
The Osoyoos Desert Centre is a 67-acre nature interpretive facility in Canada's pocket desert, and the way to see this rare ecosystem without trampling it: a 1.5 km boardwalk carries you through the desert habitat on guided or self-guided tours, with interpretive exhibits and native plant gardens at the centre. It is a seasonal operation with hours that change through the year — in fall it opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with last admission to the boardwalk at 1 p.m. — and admission is charged, so check the current schedule before you drive out. The centre is at 14580 146th Avenue.
-
Spotted Lake (kłlilx'w) Viewpoint
Spotted Lake — kłlilx'w to the Syilx people — is one of the strangest and most beautiful sights in British Columbia, and you can see it from the side of the road. About 10 km west of Osoyoos on Highway 3, a roadside pullout on the north side of the highway looks down over a small lake so dense with minerals that, as the water evaporates through the summer, it separates into dozens of round pools, each ringed in white and tinted blue, green or yellow by its own chemistry. The pattern changes week by week and year by year, so no two visits look the same; late summer, when the pools are most distinct, is the classic time, but the lake is worth a stop whenever you pass. This is a viewpoint, not a destination you walk into. Spotted Lake lies on private Osoyoos Indian Band land and is a sacred Syilx site: there is no access beyond the fence except through authorized Sẁiẁs Spirit Tours access. Visitors view the lake from the roadside pullout and should not approach the gate, the shoreline or the water. Pull fully off the highway, take your photographs from the pullout, and if you want to understand what you are looking at, book the guided cultural tour or visit the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos, where the story of the lake and its people is told first-hand. Parking at the pullout is free.
-
Sun Bowl Arena
Skating in Canada's warmest town is free: the Rotary Club of Osoyoos sponsors public skating at the Sun Bowl Arena, so the Saturday session from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. and the Sunday afternoon skate from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. cost nothing, and if you have no skates the arena's Skate Library lends pairs for free during operating hours. Monday and Wednesday mornings from 10:30 to noon belong to the Senior & Tot Skate, an easygoing session for children five and under with a guardian and for seniors, and Tuesday and Thursday at the same hour is pick-up shinny for players 19 and over in full equipment. Helmets are required for both public skating and shinny. The Sun Bowl is also home to the Osoyoos Coyotes junior hockey club, so a public session is occasionally bumped by a booking — the town posts changes and the building is open 7 a.m. to midnight through the week.
-
Sun Hills Riding Centre
Sun Hills Riding Centre offers guided horseback trail rides through Canada’s only desert, from its base at 4001 Golf Course Drive above Osoyoos. Rides go out in small groups on the centre’s rescued horses, winding through aromatic sagebrush with views over the vineyards, orchards and Osoyoos Lake below — an unhurried way to see the antelope-brush country that surrounds the town. Established in 2018, the centre also runs equine-guided wellness sessions. Reservations are required; riders must be at least eight years old and under 230 lb (104 kg), and the season follows the desert weather, so book ahead in summer.
-
Wakepilot
Wakepilot is Osoyoos’ watersports operator on Canada’s warmest lake, working from three lakefront locations — Walnut Beach Resort at 4200 Lakeshore Drive, Desert Sunrise Marina on Spartan Drive and the Spirit Ridge beachfront in the Nk’Mip RV Park. Its signature “Wakeboard and Surf Osoyoos” charters put you behind a surf boat with an instructor, while the rental fleet covers stand-up paddleboards and single and tandem kayaks for an easy paddle along the shore, e-foils that let you fly above the water with an instructor or solo once you are certified, and personal watercraft and boats for the rest of the crew. Guided SUP adventures and SUP yoga sessions leave from the beachfront, and a newer wine-tours-by-boat service combines a lake day with South Okanagan wineries. Operations are seasonal through the summer.
-
sw̓iw̓s Provincial Park
sw̓iw̓s Provincial Park, formerly Haynes Point, is a sand spit that reaches almost all the way across Osoyoos Lake just south of town. Cottonwoods shade a narrow picnic terrace with tables above the sandy beach, a marsh boardwalk trail explores the wetland, and a single concrete boat ramp serves the lake (stay between the yellow markers in the narrow channel). It is operated by the Osoyoos Indian Band, with flush toilets, on-site parking and trailer parking at the launch, and 41 campsites for the April 1 to October 14 season (gate 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.). Take the warnings seriously: swimming and wading near the exposed sandbar at the tip carry a real risk of undercurrents and steep drop-offs, winds can be severe, poison ivy is common, and there are no lifeguards. Dogs must be leashed; the Town notes a dog swimming area east of the day-use area.
🐾 Dog Friendly
-
Clover Creek – Lacoma Lake Trail (Trepanier Provincial Park)
Trepanier Provincial Park protects the deep canyon of Trepanier Creek and the forest around Lacoma Lake west of Peachland, and its one trail is a full backcountry day: BC Parks describes an 11 km trail from Trepanier Creek to Lacoma Lake with about 200 metres of elevation gain — an easy grade for the first half, then steeper sections — and suggests allowing five to seven hours for a comfortable round trip. The trail is not maintained to BC Parks standards, so expect deadfall and route-finding. The trailhead parking is unmarked, reached by rough road either 6 km along Trepanier Road from Highway 97C or 7.5 km via Trepanier Bench Road; a four-wheel-drive vehicle is highly recommended. There are no facilities. The park page does not state a pet rule; BC Parks' provincewide guidance is to keep dogs leashed where required and off-leash only in designated areas, and the park has none.
-
Hardy Falls Regional Park
Hardy Falls is the easy waterfall walk at the south end of Peachland: the Owl Trail, just 430 metres each way, flat and shaded, crosses Deep Creek on a series of bridges and ends at a viewing platform below the falls. The 6-hectare park is ideal for wildlife watching, especially in the fall when the kokanee salmon return to spawn in the creek. The trail and washrooms are accessible, and dogs are welcome on leash. The parking lot is off Hardy Street. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance of the parking area and facilities from November to March.
-
Headwaters Family Camp
Headwaters Family Camp is an old-fashioned fishing and camping camp on the Headwaters Lakes, less than 30 minutes above Peachland at the 21 km mark of Peachland Main forest service road. Summer here is fishing, boating and canoeing on the lakes — boats are available to rent — with swimming, hiking and quad trails all around, and the lakeside cabins come with wood stoves, propane cooktops and the basics, with a seasonal hot shower and outdoor toilets centrally located. Rates are deliberately affordable and the pace is quiet. Expect gravel road for the last stretch and bring a BC freshwater fishing licence.
-
Okanagan ATV Tours
Okanagan ATV Tours is a family-run adventure company based at 5463 McDougald Road above Peachland, running guided ATV and side-by-side tours for every skill level into the backcountry above Okanagan Lake. The company operates with full licensing and permissions for the trails beyond the standard riding areas, so a two-hour tour climbs from the base through forest roads and hill trails to viewpoints over the lake, with guides handling the route-finding and a safety orientation before you ride. It draws riders from Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and Osoyoos and takes bookings for longer and private tours as well as the standard two-hour outing.
-
Peachland Beach Rentals
Peachland Beach Rentals is the little rental shop on the corner of 13th Street and Beach Avenue, steps from the water on Peachland’s lakefront promenade. Stand-up paddleboards go out at a range of hourly and longer rates for a paddle along the Okanagan Lake shoreline, and single and double kayaks (10 and 12 feet) are available for the same easy launch from the beach across the road. The shop is equally a bike counter — beach cruisers and two-seater canopy bikes for a roll along Beach Avenue — which makes it the natural base for a Peachland afternoon that mixes the water with the waterfront.
-
Peachland Outdoor Ice Rink (Mountain View Park)
Peachland's outdoor rink is a labour of love. Every evening at 9 p.m. through the cold snap, volunteers from Peachland Fire and Rescue flood the surface at Mountain View Park — the old riding-club grounds about five kilometres up Princeton Avenue, across from the District's Public Works yard — and the next morning it opens free to anyone, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., with lights for the evening. It is set up for 3-on-3 hockey as well as pleasure skating, so bring sticks if you want a game, and bring everything else too: there are no rentals and the ice cannot be booked privately. Because the rink relies on natural freezing, it only runs when temperatures stay below zero for a stretch, typically from late December or January into February, and a warm week can close it; the District posts status updates, and 250-767-2647 can confirm before you drive up the hill.
-
Peachland RV Park
Peachland RV Park is the year-round campground in the pines on the bench above Peachland, five to ten minutes from the beaches of Peachland and West Kelowna: 81 spacious full-service sites with fire pits and picnic tables, a splash park and adventure playground for the kids, dog runs and trails through the trees. Unusually for an RV park it welcomes tenters, who can book a private three-piece washroom trailer wheeled onto their site, and it sells single nights as readily as weeks. Rates cover two adults and their kids in one vehicle; premium sites and long weekends cost a little more.
-
Pincushion Mountain Trail
Pincushion Mountain is Peachland's viewpoint hike, climbing from the top of the town to a rocky summit above Okanagan Lake. The trailhead is at the very top of Ponderosa Drive, at the Chateau on the Ridge entrance, and the gate where the hike begins sits at 570 metres. The District of Peachland is clear that this is an unmaintained, undesignated Crown Land trail — a wilderness hiking trail rather than a groomed park path — so know your abilities, wear proper footwear and carry water. The District measures the climb at 1.8 km to the 815-metre summit, 245 metres of elevation gain, and suggests 40 to 60 minutes up; the steep dirt and gravel can be slippery, so stay on the trail. Dogs are allowed, on leash through the W.A. Lang Wilderness Park access.
♥ Local Favourite
-
Splash BC Floating Water Park – Peachland
Splash BC’s Peachland water park floats just off Beach Avenue, anchored within sight of the Ray Kandola Heritage Pier and a short walk from Swim Bay, on the slow-down-on-the-highway stretch of Okanagan Lake shoreline 25 km south of Kelowna. The course is a full-scale inflatable adventure park — towers, slides, climbers, balance beams and monkey bars — built for ages five and up, with children aged five to seven accompanied on the park by a supervising adult (19+). A day pass ($30) gives all-day come-and-go access during operating hours and an evening pass ($20) covers 5 to 7 p.m. Pair it with the beach walk along Centennial Way and the wharf at Swim Bay for a full Peachland lake day.
-
Trepanier Creek Greenway Regional Park
A natural, forested greenway that follows the canyon of Trepanier Creek through Peachland. The designated greenway trail is 3.9 km and rated moderate, inside a corridor of about 5 km running from the Okanagan Connector (Highway 97C) down to Peachland Elementary School, with a waterfall along the way and the remnants of the dam from a small hydroelectric plant that ran on the creek from 1909 to 1947. Washrooms are provided and dogs are welcome on leash. During spring runoff the Regional District asks visitors to keep away from the creek banks, which can be slippery and where the water may rise unexpectedly; parking areas and facilities see reduced maintenance from November to March. The District of Peachland also lists an access point on Chidley Road.
-
ZipZone Peachland
ZipZone strings six guided ziplines across the Deep Creek gorge above Peachland, including what it bills as the highest freestyle zipline in the Okanagan at 381 feet. Tours run in two-, four- and six-line versions, and smaller children under 70 lb can ride tandem with a guide on the Little Zippers program. Between lines there is a climbing wall, a low ropes course, games and a picnic area with barbecues, and the park takes group bookings for celebrations and corporate days. Operating since 2010, it is open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (check the site for current hours), a short drive from Kelowna and Penticton.
-
Barefoot Beach Resort
Barefoot Beach Resort is where you camp without a tent: a village of thirteen yurts — studios up to two-bedrooms, each with a kitchenette — on a private stretch of Skaha Lake beach at the south end of Penticton, with ordinary campsites for those who bring their own canvas and the Kettle Valley Rail Trail running out the back gate toward Okanagan Falls. It is the Okanagan's best-known glamping address and the easy answer for a group with mixed ideas about roughing it.
-
Campbell Mountain
Campbell Mountain is the hill with the radio towers on the east side of Penticton, and its compact trail network is the closest mountain biking to downtown: trail-mapping sites chart about 46 trails and 51 km, everything from cross-country loops to downhill lines, including the original course from the BC Summer Games. Discover Naramata describes a mix of singletrack, doubletrack and roads over rock, gravel, sand and roots, with something for everyone from easy rides to technical challenges, and it is a popular place to learn to mountain bike. The Penticton and Area Cycling Association maintains the trails. There is currently no trail signage, so ride with a trail app; the network is small enough that getting turned around is rarely serious. Riders commonly park at the Reservoir Road (Red Gate) access or on Spiller Road above the landfill entrance; parking costs are not published, and no dog or e-bike rules are published for the area.
-
Carmi Recreational Trails
The Carmi Recreational Trails are a loop network on the plateau east of Penticton, maintained as a recreation site by Recreation Sites and Trails BC, with the Okanagan View Loop as the main outing: 7 km of packed gravel rated moderate, with a warming hut, benches and a vista point at its northwest corner. The Carmi Loop is an easier 3 km circuit. The trails are used for hiking and mountain biking in summer and snowshoeing in winter. The Garnet Fire Interpretive Site parking lot — 6.2 km up Carmi Avenue and 2.3 km on Beaver Dell Road — has an outhouse, a kiosk and two picnic tables, and there are no fees; a second access is 4 km up the Ellis Forest Service Road. The provincial recreation-site rules ask you to keep pets quiet and under control at all times; no leash rule is published for this site.
-
Coyote Cruises – Penticton Channel Float
Floating the Penticton channel is the city’s signature summer ritual: a lazy 7 km drift down the river channel that links Okanagan Lake to Skaha Lake, with the sun overhead, ducks alongside and half of Penticton floating with you. Coyote Cruises runs the operation from 215 Riverside Drive at the Okanagan Lake end — single and multi-person tube rentals, larger “party island” floats for groups, dry storage for your things and regular shuttle buses that bring you back to the start when you climb out at the Skaha end. Visit Penticton calls it a must-do for the whole family; budget three to four hours for the full length depending on the current, wear sunscreen, bring water and do not tie floats together. The season opens at the end of June and runs through the summer into September.
-
Ellis Ridge & Canyon View Trails
Above Penticton on the Carmi side, the Garnet Fire Interpretive Site is the trailhead for two short viewpoint walks managed by Recreation Sites and Trails BC: the Ellis Ridge Trail, 3.5 km round trip out and back and easy to moderate, and the Canyon View Trail, a 2 km easy loop, both with lookouts over Penticton and the Ellis Creek canyon. There are cliff edges, so keep children close. The main lot is 6.2 km up Carmi Avenue and then 2.3 km right on Beaver Dell Road, with an outhouse, an information kiosk and two picnic tables; no fires or camping, and no fees. A second access is 4 km up the Ellis Forest Service Road. The site is also used for mountain biking and snowshoeing. The provincial recreation-site rules ask you to keep pets quiet and under control at all times; no leash rule is published for this site.
-
Hoodoo Adventure Company
Penticton's outdoor-adventure outfitter for guided tours and rentals, including an e-bike ride out to the historic Adra Tunnel on the Kettle Valley Rail Trail. Book a guide or grab the gear and explore on your own.
-
Idleback Lake Recreation Site
Fifty minutes up into the Carmi hills from Penticton, Idleback Lake is the free campground locals keep for themselves: 21 well-spaced sites on the north shore under a canopy of larch that turns gold in October, a cartop launch on an electric-motor lake with a one-trout limit, and the kind of silence you cannot buy on Skaha. It is user-maintained, so bring water and take out everything; weekends and holidays fill, weekdays rarely do.
-
KVR Trail – Skaha Lake (Penticton to Okanagan Falls)
The south spur of the Kettle Valley Rail Trail follows the west shore of Skaha Lake from the Skaha Lake end of Penticton to Okanagan Falls — 13 km one way of well-maintained packed gravel with a few sandy spots, flat and easy, with the lake beside you the whole way. Riders pick up the trail at the far end of Wright’s Beach Camp, off Skaha Lake Road, and roll south past Banbury Green to Kaleden, where the 1910 Kaleden Hotel — one of the first buildings in the village with electric light and running water — stands beside the trail at Kaleden Hotel Park, and Pioneer Park offers beach, washrooms and parking for a break or a shorter out-and-back. The route continues past Ponderosa Point to Okanagan Falls. This is a different corridor from the KVR along the Naramata Bench north of town. Parking costs are not published for the trailheads.
-
LocoLanding Adventure Park
LocoLanding is Penticton’s seasonal outdoor adventure park at 75 Riverside Drive, beside the Okanagan Lake end of the channel. The draw for adventure-minded families is the high-level ropes course and the climbing wall, backed by an outdoor go-kart track with double-seat karts so parents and kids can race together, bumper boats, the Monkey Motion bungee trampoline, the Badlands inflatable park with slides, an extreme ninja course and a balance platform, and a mini-golf course. You pay per attraction or buy a value pack, with reduced rates for kids aged 4–12 and seniors and free entry for children three and under with a paying adult. The park opens daily from May into early September (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. late in the season) and closes for the winter.
-
McLaren Park Arena
McLaren Park Arena is Penticton's go-to public-skating rink, open for skating from October to mid-March and on Saturdays through the rest of the year, with a program for every kind of skater. Open Public Skate is the classic loop; Family Skate keeps a section for the littlest (children seven and under skate with a guardian); Adult Only Skate (18+) is the relaxed session; and Lap Skate (8+) is for fitness, with direction changes to keep it honest. Hockey players get non-contact Drop-In Hockey for 16-and-over and a 55+ session, both in full gear, and toddlers get their start at Preschool Stick 'N Puck for ages 1 to 5 with a parent, gloves, a caged CSA helmet and a stick. Single admission is $5.50 for adults 19 to 59, $4.50 for youth 13 to 18 and seniors 60 to 74, $3.50 for children 7 to 12 and $2.25 for preschoolers, or $14 for a family, and skate rentals are $4.25 ($3.25 for preschoolers). Helmets are strongly recommended for skating and required with a face cage for hockey players under 18. Session times are posted on the City's online booking system.
-
Munson Mountain
Munson Mountain is home to the giant PENTICTON sign and to the city's easiest big view: from the top, the panorama takes in Penticton, Okanagan Lake and the hills beyond, with photo opportunities in every direction. The walk from the parking area is only about 1 km round trip and suitable for all ages, so it fits between a winery visit and dinner. Take the access road off Middle Bench Road North, then turn onto Munson Mountain Road to reach the parking area at the base. The path is packed gravel, and dogs are welcome on leash, as in most City of Penticton parks.
-
Oxbow RV Resort
Oxbow is Penticton's in-town RV park on the Skaha side: 68 full-hookup sites with 30-amp power, water and sewer, six of them pull-throughs, on paved lanes under shade trees a few minutes from Skaha Beach, the channel float and the Okanagan River Channel path. It is a short-stay park for travelling RVers rather than a residential resort — there are no tent sites — with clean washrooms and coin showers, coin laundry, free Wi-Fi and a rental trailer for anyone arriving without their own rig. Small pets are welcome on the sites with restrictions (but not in the rental trailer), the office runs long hours through the summer, and the park closes for the winter from mid-October to the beginning of March. Book online or by phone (250-770-8147, [email protected]).
-
Penticton Boat Rentals
Two lakes, one town: rent a surf boat, pontoon or WaveRunner and spend the day on Skaha or Okanagan Lake, or book a captained charter and just relax.
-
Penticton Ikeda Japanese Garden
A quiet Japanese garden on Penticton's Okanagan Lake waterfront, with koi-filled ponds, graceful bridges and plantings that burst into bloom each April and May. It's a lovely pause on a lakeside stroll near the S.S. Sicamous.
-
Penticton Outdoor Skating Rink (Gyro Park)
Penticton's free outdoor rink sits in Gyro Park at the foot of Martin Street, a short walk from the Okanagan Lake beach and the downtown cafés, and in the run-up to Christmas the park's holiday light display — up from early December to late January — makes an evening skate here genuinely magical. The rink is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily when the weather allows and costs nothing; it is a family-skating rink, so leave the hockey sticks at home, and there are no rentals, so bring your own skates and helmet. City crews may be on the ice for maintenance during opening hours, and warm spells close it without much notice, so treat it as a bonus on a cold, clear day rather than a guarantee. For a scheduled skate or rentals, McLaren Park Arena on King Street is the indoor alternative.
-
Pier Water Sports
Pier Water Sports is Penticton’s lakefront rental counter on Okanagan Beach at 185 Lakeshore Drive West, and by Visit Penticton’s account nowhere else in the city lets you rent as many different kinds of watercraft in one place. For a quiet outing there are single and double kayaks and stand-up paddleboards to launch straight from the beach; for a bigger day there are jet skis and double-decker pontoon boats with waterslides for a whole group. Rentals run by the hour with holiday surcharges, and the location puts you a short walk from the Peach concession, the SS Sicamous and the rest of the Okanagan Lake waterfront.
-
Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park
Skaha Bluffs is the South Okanagan's rock-climbing destination: a 554-hectare park of sun-warmed cliffs above the east side of Skaha Lake, reached from Lakeside Road up Smythe Road along Gillies Creek. Climbing is permitted only in the northern section of the park, and BC Parks warns that the trails used to reach the routes can be difficult, so this is a place for sure feet even if you never touch rope. The bluffs are essential habitat for bighorn sheep — keep your distance, they are territorial — and dogs must be leashed at all times to protect the fragile ecosystem. Mountain biking is confined to the designated routes in the Gillies Creek corridor. Pit toilets are at the parking lots, and the access-road gate opens from 7 a.m. to dusk; it is closed for the season from mid-November to mid-March.
♥ Local Favourite
-
South Beach Gardens RV Park
South Beach Gardens is Penticton's big family park — well over 200 sites across the road from Sudbury and Skaha beaches, most with full hookups, a clubhouse and the kind of tight-knit rows that fill with the same families every July. It is also the only campground in the city that stays open through winter, with heated washrooms and winterized sites for anyone chasing the Okanagan's mild off-season. Sites along the west edge back onto Highway 97; book toward the lake side for quiet.
-
Splash BC Floating Water Park – Penticton
Splash BC’s Penticton water park floats off Okanagan Beach at the north end of town, where the city meets Okanagan Lake: a full-scale inflatable adventure course of towers, slides, climbers, balance beams, monkey bars and a sprint runway built to end in a spectacular splash, for kids, teens, families and anyone who wants to test their balance. It is open to ages five and up, with children aged five to seven accompanied on the park by a supervising adult (19+), and Penticton is the only location with a separate Kidz Zone for ages three to seven. A day pass ($34) gives all-day come-and-go access; an evening pass ($24) covers 5 to 7 p.m. The park runs through the summer season on one of the busiest beaches in the South Okanagan.
-
Three Blind Mice Trail Network
The Three Blind Mice trail network spreads across the benchland above Penticton toward Naramata, overlooking Okanagan Lake, and is the South Okanagan’s best-known mountain-bike area: Visit Penticton counts more than 80 trails, and trail-mapping sites chart over 100 of them, winding through ponderosa pine, rock bluffs and grassland from intermediate singletrack to expert technical lines. The core of the network is a City of Penticton natural park at 1400 Riddle Road, and the Penticton and Area Cycling Association looks after the trails. Riders commonly start from the Poplar Grove parking area off Naramata Road; parking costs are not published. Close by, beside the KVR Trail at 1194 Poplar Grove Road, the City’s asphalt pump track gives riders of all ages a loop of rollers and berms to practise on. Trail signage is limited, so carry a trail app, and note that no official e-bike or dog rules are published for the network.
-
Wright's Beach Camp
Wright's Beach Camp is the one campground in Penticton where your site can be on the sand: a long-established family park at the south end of town with its own beach on Skaha Lake, waterfront sites for RVs, trailer rentals for anyone arriving without one, and the beaches and playgrounds of Skaha Lake Park next door. It is open year-round, which makes it the snowbird favourite in spring and fall, and it fills quickly for the summer; the highway runs along two sides, so ask for a lakeside site if quiet matters more than convenience.
-
Brewer's Pond Skating – SilverStar
Brewer's Pond is two and a half acres of natural ice in SilverStar's Adventure Park, and skating on it feels the way skating is supposed to feel: outdoors, under the mountain, with a fire crackling at the edge and music drifting over the snow. The resort's Zamboni keeps the surface as smooth as a pond allows, so it suits everyone from first-timers to figure skaters, and there is room for a proper game of pond hockey — one shinny game and one net game at a time, no slap shots or raised pucks, fifteen-minute turns when others are waiting, helmets recommended. From early January to late February you can even watch the resort's staff battle it out on Wednesday evenings. Skating is included in the resort's My1Pass day ticket and season pass; everyone on the ice, tots included, needs a valid ticket and skates (no shoes), and skate rentals, stick rentals and sharpening are at the Brewer's Pond Base beside the pond, which opens fifteen minutes before the pond does. Circling the pond is the Bear Byway, an interpretive loop of seven bear sculptures by BC artists with signs on bear behaviour and safety — pick up the scavenger-hunt sheet at Guest Services or Tube Town and trade a completed one for a sticker. Because this is real ice, the pond's status can change without warning; check before you come. Tube Town Café & Bar is right there for the warm-up afterwards.
-
Ravenwood Snowshoe Dinner Tours – SilverStar
Ravenwood is SilverStar's newest way to spend a winter evening: a guided snowshoe through the darkening forest to the new Ravenwood Cabin, where dinner is waiting. The resort bills it as an evening of adventure and gourmet delights, and that is the shape of it — a short snowshoe on packed trail with a guide (about two kilometres last season), the cabin's lights appearing through the snow-heavy branches, and a warm room and a meal cooked by the resort's kitchen team at the end of it. It runs as an evening programme from the village and pairs beautifully with a day of skiing or a weekend at the resort when you want one night that is nothing like the others. Ravenwood Cabin opened for the 2025/26 season; dates, seatings and pricing for the coming winter are announced by the resort and booked through Guest Services ([email protected]), so check the SilverStar winter-activities page before you plan around it, and dress for a night walk in the mountains.
-
SilverStar Cross-Country Ski Trails
SilverStar's own cross-country network is 55 kilometres of daily-groomed trail that starts right at the village — and with the neighbouring Sovereign Lake trails it forms the 105-kilometre system the resort calls the largest daily-groomed cross-country network in Canada. The trails are graded green, blue and black like the downhill runs, so a first-timer can spend the day on gentle loops while strong skiers head for the long climbs and the upper trails, and the Nordic ticket includes two lift rides so you can start high and glide home. Warming huts along the way make natural lunch stops, the viewpoints on both the lower and upper trails are worth the detour, a lit night loop keeps the season going after dark, and designated dog-friendly trails let the whole family come. Cross-country skiing is one of the seven activities on the resort's My1Pass, rentals and lessons are in the village, and the resort's volunteer Mountain Hosts run free daily cross-country tours that sample the network and point you toward more. Keep your pass visible on the trails, leave the ski chariot off the lifts, and check the grooming report before you clip in. SilverStar's Nordic season opens on November 20, 2026, a week ahead of the alpine lifts. For the club side of the same network, see Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre.
-
SilverStar Fat Bike Trails
Who hasn't wanted to try a bike built for snow? SilverStar keeps 15 kilometres of single- and double-track fat-bike trail packed and signed through the winter, threading the same forest the snowshoers and cross-country skiers use, and the resort rents fat bikes in the village so you don't need to own one. The rules are simple and worth knowing before you roll out: tyres at least 3.75 inches wide and under 8 psi, a helmet at all times, stay on the designated fat-bike trails (Brian's and Eric's trails are not among them), give pedestrians the right of way, and stay off the trails when the temperature climbs above zero — soft snow ruts for everyone. Fat biking is one of the seven activities on the resort's My1Pass, or pick up a trail ticket at the ticket office; the Nordic Operations team checks conditions weekly, so look at the latest report and the trail map before you set out. It is a genuinely different way to see the mountain, and one of the few places in the Okanagan where winter riding is groomed for.
-
SilverStar Mountain Resort
SilverStar is the North Okanagan's four-season mountain resort above Vernon, and in winter it is a whole village of things to do rather than a single ski hill. The alpine terrain runs to 3,304 acres and 133 runs over 760 metres of vertical, served by ten lifts including the Des Schumann Summit Express gondola, with long green and blue cruisers off the front side, steep powder-filled chutes on the Putnam Creek backside and three terrain parks; on Friday and Saturday nights the lights come on for four kilometres of groomed night skiing and the Bannister Night Park at Silver Queen. The resort's My1Pass idea is what sets it apart: one day ticket or season pass unlocks seven activities — downhill, cross-country skiing on the resort's 55-kilometre half of Canada's largest daily-groomed Nordic network, 16 kilometres of snowshoe trail, 15 kilometres of fat-bike trail, skating on Brewer's Pond, tubing at Tube Town and (with a season pass) night skiing — each of which has its own page on Okanagan Roam. Volunteer Mountain Hosts lead free guided tours of the alpine and Nordic trails every morning from Town Hall, snow-cat dinners run to Paradise Camp on the backside, and the new Ravenwood cabin hosts snowshoe dinner tours. The Nordic trails open on November 20, 2026 and the alpine season runs November 27, 2026 to April 4, 2027. Summer turns the same slopes into the SilverStar Bike Park — the resort describes it as one of Canada's best downhill mountain-bike experiences, with downhill, enduro and cross-country riding, skills areas and a pump track — while walkers and trail runners have 16 km of forest and mountain trails: the easy Paradise, Mountain View, Tin Tin and Sidewinder loops out of the village, the hiking-only Silver Queen Trail, and, from the top of the Des Schumann Summit Express gondola at 1,915 metres — some 300 metres above the village — the Ridge Walk (no bikes), the Attridge Scenic Loop and the Alpine Meadows. Hikers pick up a complimentary trail day ticket at the Ticket Office; Monday to Thursday the summit is reached by the Comet Express after a gentle 20-minute walk down to the lift. The resort publishes no dog rule for its trails, and the surrounding regional district requires dogs on leash unless in a designated off-leash area. Lessons, rentals, restaurants, cafés and lodging are in the resort village.
-
SilverStar Snowshoe Trails
Sixteen kilometres of singletrack snowshoe trail weave through SilverStar's forest and the lower cross-country country, and they are the slow, quiet way to see the mountain: no lift lines, no learning curve, just the crunch of snow under your feet and the trees closing in around you. Trails range in difficulty and are marked with hand-carved wooden signs and reflective markers, so you can be out in the early evening blue light without losing your way, and there are two trailheads — one at the village and one at the Adventure Park by Brewer's Pond — so you can start from wherever you are staying or playing. Dogs are welcome on all the snowshoe trails on a leash, which makes this the best outing on the mountain for the family member who can't ski. Snowshoeing is one of the seven activities on the resort's My1Pass, or buy a trail ticket on its own, and snowshoe rentals are available in the village. The resort's Nordic team surveys the trails weekly; pick up a trail map, go at your own pace, and finish at Tube Town Café or the pond.
-
Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre
Sovereign Lake is Canada's largest cross-country ski and snowshoe club, set inside Silver Star Provincial Park 22 km east of Vernon up Silver Star Road, just 2 km west of SilverStar Mountain Resort. The club grooms roughly 58 km of trails for classic and skate skiing — about 12 km novice, 14 km intermediate and 32 km advanced — plus 14 km of marked snowshoe trails, with day tickets, season passes, rentals and lessons available at the lodge. Dogs are permitted only on the designated dog ski trails, under full control, and never on the other ski trails or the snowshoe trails; dog owners are asked to use the lower parking lot, where a relatively flat 400-metre loop makes an easy first outing. BC Parks notes that the day lodge has the park's only flush toilets in winter. Signage on Highway 6 and Highway 97 points the way.
-
Tube Town – SilverStar Tube Park
Tube Town is SilverStar's answer to the question every family asks after a morning on the slopes: what now? Set beside Brewer's Pond in the resort's Adventure Park, a few minutes' walk from the village, it is a proper tube park rather than a hill and a hope — truck-sized inner tubes with safety handles, several lanes of packed snow, and a tube lift that carries you and your tube back to the top so you can slide, spin and swerve run after run without a single uphill trudge. Tubing is one of the seven activities bundled into the resort's My1Pass, and day tickets are sold at the Tube Town Ticket Office on site. Kids need to be at least three years old to ride, and anyone under 42 inches tall tubes with a paying adult; everyone rides their own tube, and ski boots stay in the locker. Next door, SilverStar's fenced mini-snowmobile track puts children aged six to twelve (under 100 lb) at the controls of a pint-sized Arctic Cat for supervised laps — tickets at the Brewers Pond Base, with an adult alongside. When you are done, Tube Town Café & Bar is right there for hot chocolate or a mulled wine, and the skating pond is a short step away. Tube Town can close without notice when the weather turns, so check the resort's hours before you head up.
-
Vernon Snowmobile Association – Silver Star Trails
The Vernon Snowmobile Association is the oldest snowmobile club in British Columbia, riding since 1967, and its 160 kilometres of regularly groomed trails climb through Silver Star Provincial Park, 22 kilometres up Silver Star Road from Vernon, next door to the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. The mix is what makes it: signed trails for cruising, open meadows and bowls for playing, terrain that suits snowmobiles, snowbikes and tracked ATVs alike, and two shelters — the Silver Star Chalet and the Armstrong Cabin — that double as warm-up and emergency stops. A day trail pass is $15 per machine, valid for the day of purchase, bought online or at the information kiosk at the entrance to the parking lot (cash in the envelope, keep the receipt as your proof). The lot is shared with cross-country skiers, snowshoers and dog walkers, so the club asks riders to read its parking-lot plan before arriving; the kiosk map shows the trail system, and the same terrain is used by skiers and snowshoers, so yield and ride considerately.
-
Giant's Head Mountain Park
Giant's Head is the core remnant of a volcano, the landmark that surveys Summerland, and its summit at 845 metres (2,771 feet) offers a full 360-degree panorama of Okanagan Lake, the orchards and the mountains, with viewing tubes pointing out landmarks and a granite boulder holding a time capsule to be reopened in 2067. Enter the park from Giant's Head Road at Milne Road, where iron gates mark the entrance: park there and hike up, or drive to the parking area one kilometre from the summit. The park road is open to vehicles from noon to 9 p.m. and closed to vehicles on Sundays from April 15 to October 30, which makes Sunday the quietest day to walk it. A long, winding road leads to a picnic area and washrooms, and the District's 2026 trail map lays out the ways to the top: the Grind Trail, 1.6 km with 275 metres of climbing and rated difficult; the East Ridge Trail, 3 km and 335 metres, also difficult and uphill-only for mountain bikers; the gentler Friendly Giant Trail, 2.2 km and 135 metres, rated moderate; the 2.6 km roadway itself; and an easy 900-metre Upper Loop around the summit. Dogs are permitted on leash year-round under the District's parks bylaw, and the park's address is 9296 Milne Road.
♥ Local Favourite
-
Mount Conkle Park
Mount Conkle rises above Prairie Valley on the south side of Summerland, and the District park on its slopes is a local favourite for mountain biking and trail running: singletrack climbs from the Trans Canada Trail up to viewpoints over orchards, vineyards and Okanagan Lake, with Giant’s Head in full view from the top. Trail-mapping sites chart about 11 trails and 19 km. The Kettle Valley Railway was built along the mountain’s flank and the park borders the Summerland Rodeo Grounds; the usual trailhead is off Fenwick Road. The mountain is named for William H. Conkle, who homesteaded here with Alexander McLennan in 1886. After the 2026 Bald Range wildfire the District confirmed Mount Conkle Park open, along with the Trans Canada Trail between Fenwick Road and the Rodeo Grounds, while Cartwright Mountain and the trail east toward Faulder stay closed — check the District’s parks page before you go. Parking costs are not published, and no dog or e-bike rules are published for the park.
-
Okanagan Lake Provincial Park
Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, north of Summerland on Highway 97, is a camper’s beach: pebbly rather than sandy, with buoyed swim areas below the two campgrounds, a day-use area of picnic tables along the shore, a playground and a concrete boat launch at the south campground, and a summer concession at the south gatehouse. Pit and flush toilets and campground showers are provided. Dogs must be leashed and are not allowed in the beach areas, and there are no lifeguards. BC Parks notes the dry hillsides above the campgrounds are rattlesnake habitat, so watch where you step. The 2025 season ran March 28 to October 13. Between them the North and South campgrounds hold 175 sites (174 reservable) plus eight walk-in tent sites, each with its own shower building, and the park is one of the few in the valley that lists winter camping.
-
Peach Orchard Campground
Summerland owns and runs its own campground, and it sits where a municipal campground should: two blocks up the hill from Peach Orchard Beach on Okanagan Lake, a short walk from the cafés, bakeries and tasting rooms of the village, with the KVR and the Peach Orchard loop trail close by. The park spreads 121 sites through the trees — most with power and water, the rest with water — and adds the things that make a family week easy: hot showers, proper washrooms, a general store on site and firewood for sale. It is the base for a Summerland holiday that does not need a resort: swim at the beach in the morning, ride the Kettle Valley Steam Railway or tour Bottleneck Drive in the afternoon, and walk back to camp for dinner. Book through the campground office; the season is spring to fall.
-
SWR Boat & SUP Rentals
SWR Boat & SUP Rentals runs from the dock at Summerland Waterfront Resort & Spa on a secluded stretch of Okanagan Lake shoreline, 15 minutes north of Penticton, and it is open to day visitors as well as resort guests — the resort itself notes that you do not have to be staying there, and rentals are booked through an open online portal. Stand-up paddleboards and kayaks go out from the dock for a quiet paddle along the bay, and for a faster day there are powerboats and a luxury pontoon (minimum age 21 to rent motorized craft; towable water toys are not permitted with rental boats; fuel and taxes extra). The dock is reached along the public lakeshore path toward the yacht club. It is a seasonal operation — open Thursday to Monday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it closed for the 2026 season on September 21 — with The Bistro at the resort open to everyone afterwards.
-
Summerland Ornamental Gardens
The Summerland Ornamental Gardens have been growing on the bench above Trout Creek since 1916, when the Dominion Experimental Farm planted them to show Okanagan settlers what would thrive in a dry climate — and more than a century later that is still the point. Fifteen acres of heritage trees and lawns roll toward the canyon rim, but the heart of the modern garden is its xeriscape and native-plant beds, where the plants that belong in this valley are labelled with their Syilx Okanagan names alongside the Latin, so a walk here doubles as a field guide to the sagebrush country you have been driving through. Birds work the shrubs year-round, spring brings the big bloom, and the seasonal hours stretch from an 8 am opening to 8 pm on summer evenings (shorter in winter, weather permitting). Admission is by donation, with $5 a person suggested; dogs are welcome on leash and there are several places to park off Highway 97. The gardens are run by a volunteer society, the Friends of Summerland Ornamental Gardens ([email protected]), whose plant sales and tours are the best way to take a little of the Okanagan home.
-
Allan Brooks Nature Centre
The Allan Brooks Nature Centre sits on a grassland knoll five minutes south of downtown Vernon with a view you cannot get anywhere else in the valley: Okanagan, Kalamalka and Swan lakes all at once from a single hilltop. Named for the celebrated Okanagan bird artist, the non-profit centre has been introducing visitors to the North Okanagan's ecosystems since 1996, and it is built for hands-on discovery. Inside are interactive displays of local plants and animals, live snakes, turtles and spiders, an observation bee hive and fur-and-feather touch tables; outside, walking paths loop through the native grassland past bluebird nest boxes, the resident marmots of "Marmot City", an analemmatic sundial and a pond where kids can net-dip for aquatic life. Guided tours can be booked for groups, and the centre runs summer camps, nature talks and workshops through the season, along with the ticketed Raptors flight demonstrations each June that bring hawks, owls, eagles and vultures to the Grassland Theatre. The centre is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., from April through October, admission is by donation, and there is free parking on site. It is also the local authority on birding routes through the Commonage grasslands to the south, so ask the staff before you go exploring.
-
BX Creek Trail & BX Falls
The BX Creek Trail follows BX Creek from the mountains above Vernon down to the valley bottom, and its centrepiece is BX Falls. The falls section has several bridge crossings and steep stairs but is suitable for families — a short walk from the Tillicum Road parking lot, or a 6 km round trip for a longer outing. Above it, the Upper BX Creek network (known locally as Spanky's) runs 4.9 km from Sovereign Lake Road to Forsberg Road and is a physically challenging experience for advanced mountain bikers, hikers and trail runners. Dogs are permitted on leash. Park at the Tillicum Road lot (7025 Tillicum Road), the Star Road lot (6100 Star Road), the Deleenheer Road access, or the upper trailhead off Silver Star Road with additional parking on Forsberg Road. The falls trail runs 3.05 km one way with six bridges and a steep stairway at the falls — Tourism Vernon rates it Difficult, and spring runoff can make it unsafe, so pick a dry spell. Two gentler options round it out: the Deleenheer Road access gives a more accessible route into the black cottonwood forest for people with limited mobility, and the 1.5 km BX Creek Delta Trail follows the creek toward Swan Lake on crushed stone, boardwalks and bridges between 20th Street and Deleenheer Road.
-
BX Creek Wetland Boardwalk & Vernon Heronry
Every March the great blue herons come back to Vernon. For close to forty years a colony has nested high in a stand of cottonwoods on the north side of the city, between 20th and 24th streets off 48th Avenue, and the heronry is now federally protected — you cannot enter it, but you do not need to: the surrounding sidewalks give clear views of the huge stick nests, the birds returning to rebuild in March and, later in spring and early summer, the young standing in the nests. The City's BX Creek Wetland Boardwalk Trail is the way to make a morning of it. From the trailhead and parking at Heron Glen Park on 53rd Avenue, the 1.4-kilometre (one-way) route follows crushed stone and long sections of boardwalk around wetland ponds and over several creek crossings, with interpretive signs, benches and a purpose-built lookout for watching the herons, on a surface gentle enough for all ages and abilities. Other access points are on Deleenheer Road (with parking) and at Pleasant Valley Road near Rimer Road. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail, it is free, and it is open year-round — but this is a nesting area, so dogs and horses are not allowed on the trail, and posted signs around the heronry must be respected. It is a different trail from the BX Falls section up Tillicum Road.
-
Becker Bike Park
Becker Bike Park is the City of Vernon’s in-town bike skills park at 3404 39th Avenue, re-opened in August 2024 after a rebuild funded by more than $70,000 in grants and donations to the City and the North Okanagan Cycling Society. The park packs three pump tracks — including a paved track that Tourism Vernon calls a new local favourite — a gradually climbing trail, a flow trail for beginner to intermediate riders, a dirt-jump zone with progression lines and a drop zone into a compact site, which makes it a good place to bring young riders to build skills or to bang out fast laps. The park also includes an on-leash dog area and walking paths. Parking arrangements and costs are not published on the City’s page.
-
Cedar Falls Campground
Cedar Falls is a small, hands-on family campground twelve minutes from Vernon on the road to SilverStar, sharing Tillicum Road with the BX Creek and BX Falls trailhead: individually cared-for sites, a firm four-person limit that keeps the place calm, and owners who come by to make sure everything works. Nights start at $85 for two adults and two kids, which buys you a forest base for the falls walk, SilverStar's summer bike park and the Vernon beaches.
-
Cools Pond Park
Cools Pond is the North Okanagan's easiest birding stop: a small rural wetland on L&A Road just north of Vernon, with a short, flat pathway running the length of the pond behind the fence and a covered wooden observation platform raised above the water. The Regional District looks after it as a nature area rather than a playground, and the birds have noticed — more than 120 species have been recorded here through the year, from spring waterfowl and shorebirds to raptors working the fields, woodpeckers in the cottonwoods and the songbirds that fill the reeds in June, with painted turtles hauled out on the logs on warm days. It is an all-season destination on the BC Bird Trail's Vernon route, a ten-minute walk end to end that rewards standing still with binoculars far more than hurrying. Park along L&A or Rimer roads at the corner, bring a scope if you have one, and note the one firm rule: no dogs (and no horses) in the pond area.
-
Ellison Provincial Park
Ellison Provincial Park rewards the drive south of Vernon with a different kind of Okanagan Lake day: multiple beaches with buoyed swim areas, a playground for the kids, and around 50 picnic tables plus a picnic shelter to spread out at. Otter Bay is Western Canada’s only freshwater dive park, so divers share the park with swimmers, and there is canoeing, hiking and fishing on top of that. Flush toilets and showers are on site, but there is no boat launch and no lifeguards. Sandy Beach is the park’s pet beach; dogs are not allowed on the other beaches. The season runs roughly April 1 to October 12, and the beaches are about a half-kilometre walk from the parking lot. Ellison is also a campground and a viewpoint park: 71 sites (61 reservable, 10 first-come) with a hot-shower building, spring-water taps and fire rings, and more than six kilometres of trail along the rocky headlands with panoramic vistas of Okanagan Lake north to Spallumcheen and south to Fintry.
🐾 Dog Friendly
-
Evely Recreation Site
Evely is the big Okanagan Lake campground that isn't a provincial park: 48 first-come sites strung along the west shore on Westside Road, halfway between Fintry and Vernon, run by Recreation Sites and Trails BC with toilets and tables and not much else — which is exactly the point. The lake is at your feet for swimming and cartop boats, the fishing is right there, and the price and the rules are looser than the reservation campgrounds down the road. It fills fast on summer weekends and there is no way to book ahead, so arrive early. Check the RSTBC page before you go: after the recent wildfires the site has carried access notices, and at times it can only be reached from the south via West Kelowna.
-
Goose Lake Range Park
Goose Lake Range Park is a new 46-hectare natural space on the plateau between Swan Lake and Okanagan Lake north of Vernon, with over 3 km of non-motorized, multi-use gravel trails designed for accessibility: gentle slopes through native grassland and wetland, suited to walking, cycling and quiet nature watching. Dogs are welcome on the trail but must remain on a leash. From Vernon follow Highway 97 north, turn left on Mendenhall Road, continue as it becomes Stepping Stones Road, bear right at the park signage and follow the access road about 1 km to the parking lot.
-
Grey Canal Trail
The Grey Canal Trail follows the alignment of British Columbia's longest irrigation channel, the canal that once carried water to the orchards and farms across the Greater Vernon valley; in places the old pipelines are still visible beside the path. It is not one trailhead but a series of sections that ring the valley — from The Rise to Davison Road, Turtle Mountain to Blue Jay Road, Silver Star Road to Star Road, Hartnell Road to DeRoo Road, and the Coldstream Ranchlands to Ravine Drive, among others — each with one or two parking areas, so you can walk it in pieces and choose your view. Dogs are permitted on every section but must be on leash. The trail is part of the more than 87 km of regional trails that earn Greater Vernon its 'Trails Capital of BC' title. Add the sections up and they come to roughly 32 km, about 28 km of it off-road, so you can walk it in pieces for weeks. Tourism Vernon rates most sections easy — Turtle Mountain (Blue Jay Road to Turtle Mountain Boulevard) is 3.5 km and Coldstream Valley Estates (Buchanan to Warren) 4.2 km — with the 2.7 km Foothills loop moderate and the 1.1 km Boss Creek section difficult. For a short, steep taste with a story, the 570-metre Nel's Leap Trail climbs a former 1929 ski-jump hill from 43rd Avenue and Alexis Park Drive, past interpretive signs to a bird's-eye view of Vernon, and joins the Turtle Mountain section.
-
Kal Crystal Waters Trail
The Kal Crystal Waters Trail is a 12.57 km route for walkers and cyclists from Okanagan College in Vernon south to Lake Country, rated Moderate by Tourism Vernon. It starts at the Greater Vernon Athletics Park, crosses college land to Varsity Drive, then follows Lakeview Drive on-road with a steep climb to the Kal Lake Lookout and continues along Kalamalka Lakeview Drive (the old Highway 97) to the Kekuli Bay Provincial Park gate. An off-road trail resumes above the Kekuli Bay campground to Bailey Road, descends a former highway, and then splits: right for a rougher 1.8 km to Crystal Waters Road, or left down to join the Okanagan Rail Trail north of the Crystal Waters subdivision. Parking is at the Greater Vernon Athletics Park, the Kalamalka Lakeview Drive lookout, Kekuli Bay Provincial Park, the East Bailey Road lot opposite the Predator Ridge turnoff, and Crystal Waters Road. Dogs allowed on leash.
-
Kekuli Bay Provincial Park
Kekuli Bay sits on a peaceful bay on the west side of Kalamalka Lake, with calm waters that make it a popular launching point for kayaks, SUPs, waterskiing and boating, and the Okanagan Rail Trail right at hand for a walk or ride. The swim area is rocky, and a busy boat launch shares the bay, so it suits visitors who like a lake with some activity on it. There is a playground for younger visitors, and flush toilets and showers in the park. Parking inside the park is limited in summer; BC Parks asks trail users to consider the Regional District lot above the park, off Highway 97. Dogs are not permitted on the beach and there are no lifeguards. The campground above the bay has 76 sites including four walk-in tent sites, all reservable through BC Parks, four with power, with warm showers, flush toilets, drinking water and fire rings; 2.6 km of gentle gravel trails wind through the grassland around it, and the whole campground looks out over Kalamalka Lake.
-
Lake Front RV Park (Swan Lake)
Lake Front RV Park backs onto the reedy, bird-rich shore of Swan Lake just north of Vernon — six acres with 81 sites, most with full hookups and a row of half-service sites that suit tents and small trailers — where the Swan Lake nature reserve's herons, ospreys and pelicans are the neighbours and downtown Vernon is a ten-minute drive. Book by the night online; check-in is at one.
-
Middleton Mountain (Farnsworth Nature Reserve)
Middleton Mountain is the grassy summit between Vernon and Coldstream, and the Farnsworth Nature Reserve at its top protects native grassland where three loop trails — the Bluebird, North, Middle and South Loop trails — give 360-degree views of Kalamalka Lake, the Coldstream Valley, the Monashee Mountains, Swan Lake and the City of Vernon. Tourism Vernon lists the Middleton Mountain Loop at 2.66 km and rates it Difficult, because steep stairs climb to the summit from the trailhead sign on Mt Ida Drive opposite the Emerald Views housing complex; there is also access from Middleton Mountain Park. Benches and interpretive signs describe the geology, flora and fauna, wildflowers bloom from early spring to mid-June, and deer, marmots, bluebirds, meadowlarks, quail, eagles and hawks live here. Dogs must be on leash — to avoid the cactus as much as to protect the grassland wildlife.
-
Okanagan Glamping Co.
Okanagan Glamping Co. sets a handful of furnished canvas tents and a yurt on the sage-and-pine hills of Westside Road above Okanagan Lake, a half-hour from Vernon: proper beds, sunset views over the water and no tent poles, from spring until Thanksgiving. With only four units it books out early, and the online calendar shows exactly which tent is free on which night.
-
Okanagan Rec Rentals – Snowmobile Tours
Okanagan Rec Rentals is the way to snowmobile the SilverStar backcountry without owning a sled: the Vernon-based outfitter runs guided tours that depart from SilverStar Mountain Resort and follow a local guide into the snow-laden forest and open terrain behind the mountain, and the resort itself points visitors to them. Tours come in one-hour (departing 10 a.m. and noon), two-hour (noon and 3 p.m.) and three-hour versions (9 a.m. and 3 p.m., hot chocolate included), and every price covers safety gear and a snowmobile orientation before you set off. A one-hour tour is $159 for a single rider, $239 with a passenger or $209 with a child 12 and under riding behind you; two hours is $239, $339 or $299; three hours $319, $419 or $399. A $1,500 damage deposit per snowmobile is taken at check-in, and groups of three or more sleds should book in advance. The company also rents snowmobiles for self-guided riding from its Okanagan Landing Road base in Vernon — call 250-549-3613 for rental rates and rider requirements.
-
Okanagan Skydive
Okanagan Skydive is the only skydiving operation in the valley, flying tandem jumps and complete solo-certification programs straight out of the Vernon Regional Airport on Tronson Road, 45 minutes from Kelowna. Every tandem student is paired with a highly experienced, certified tandem master; after the climb-out you get about 35 seconds of freefall and then a peaceful parachute ride over the orchards, vineyards and lakes of the North Okanagan before landing back at the airport. Tourism Vernon lists it as the only skydiving experience in the Okanagan Valley. Jumps are weather-dependent and booked in advance through the operator, which also runs first-jump courses for anyone who wants to progress beyond a tandem.
-
Paraglide Canada
Paraglide Canada has been the Okanagan’s paragliding school and tandem operator since 2001, flying from the hills above Kalamalka Lake ten minutes from Vernon. Its flying site is at the base of King Eddy Forest Service Road off Highway 6 — the King Eddy’s Landing Field — where tandem passengers meet their certified instructor, launch from the slopes above and glide back down over the Coldstream valley with the lake laid out below. The school also runs P1/P2 and advanced courses and sells and services gear from its Haney Road office. Tandems fly from mid- to late April through the fall as weather windows allow, and the training calendar for the following spring is posted online each autumn.
-
Predator Ridge Trails
Predator Ridge has built one of the North Okanagan’s signature riding networks on the Commonage between Vernon and Kelowna: 13.5 km of dedicated bike trails plus a connector into Ellison Provincial Park, all open to the public and operated seasonally. Tourism Vernon’s advice is to take the climb for the Okanagan Lake views and then link Mantle, Granite, Rock Garden Playground and The Arches for one long rocky, granite-slab descent; the North Okanagan Cycling Society credits the resort with building trails such as Granite, Mantle and the Ellison Connector for the wider Vernon riding community. The resort’s Bike Hub at 1-799 Predator Ridge Drive is the base, and several parking areas serve the trailheads; parking costs are not published, and no dog or e-bike rules are published for the trails.
-
Rocky Ridge Park (Turtle Mountain)
Rocky Ridge Park is Vernon's quickest 360-degree view: a small Regional District park on the summit ridge of Turtle Mountain, in the Alexis Park neighbourhood on the west side of the city, where a few minutes of walking earns a panorama that Tourism Vernon counts among the city's iconic viewpoints. Start at the small trailhead parking lots on Turtle Mountain Boulevard, between Razorback Court and Leatherback Road, and follow the flat 0.4 km trail west behind Razorback Court to a wooden staircase; the stairs carry you up onto the open rock of the ridge, and from the top the whole of Greater Vernon turns beneath you — the city and Coldstream to the east, Swan Lake to the north, and Okanagan Landing and the north arm of Okanagan Lake to the southwest, with the three lakes that ring the valley in view on a clear day. It is short, steep in the stair section and exposed on the rock, so mind small children near the edges, and there are no facilities at the top. Parking is at the trailhead lots; the Regional District does not publish a fee, and none has been confirmed, so check on arrival. Come at golden hour, when the grassland and the lakes light up.
-
Splashdown Vernon
The North Okanagan's summer splash zone, with ten waterslides, a giant hot tub and shaded cabanas overlooking Swan Lake. It's a guaranteed win for families on a hot Vernon day. Open seasonally.
-
Swan Lake Nature Reserve Trail
The Swan Lake Nature Reserve is a gentle 1.8 km loop at the southwest end of Swan Lake, north of Vernon, preserving and restoring marshland in partnership with Ducks Unlimited. The flat trail is one of the area's best birding walks — blue herons, marsh birds, raptors, geese and ducks — and a three-storey wildlife observation tower on the shore adds 360-degree views and interpretive signage. Most of the reserve is left undeveloped for conservation. Dogs are not permitted. Drive north on Old Kamloops Road 2.3 km from 43rd Avenue and Alexis Park Drive, turn right at the Swan Lake Regional Park sign at Stawn's Honey, and follow the gravel road 0.7 km to the parking area at the trailhead.
-
Vernon Recreation Complex – Priest Valley Arena & Centennial Outdoor Rink
Vernon's Recreation Complex on 35th Avenue gives you two kinds of winter ice at one address. Outside is the Centennial Outdoor Rink, free to use from December through February, weather permitting, with scheduled public skating, parent-and-tot time and shinny sessions for youth and adults — helmets, sticks and gloves are mandatory for shinny, and anyone under 18 needs a signed parental consent. Inside, Priest Valley Arena is the home of Vernon's figure-skating, speed-skating and ringette clubs and hosts indoor public skating and adult hockey drop-in: you register for a session ahead of time and pick up a wristband at check-in, drop-in hockey requires full equipment including a CSA-approved helmet and is capped at 26 skaters and two goalies, and CSA helmets are required for every skater 12 and under, who must be accompanied by an adult. There are no skate rentals at any Vernon recreation facility, so bring your own. Indoor admission is charged per the City's current rate chart, and residents of Vernon, Coldstream, Electoral Areas B and C and the Okanagan Indian Band receive 50% off with photo ID.
-
Bear Creek Provincial Park
Bear Creek gives you 400 metres of coarse-sand beach on the west side of Okanagan Lake, across the water from Kelowna, with a buoyed swim area and the kind of facilities that make a long day easy: a change house, accessible flush toilets, a concession and a dozen shaded picnic tables. An 80-vehicle lot handles the summer traffic. Dogs are not allowed on the beach and there are no lifeguards. The campground operates from March 20 to October 12, 2026. Behind the beach is one of the Okanagan's best-loved provincial campgrounds: 143 sites, 55 of them with electrical hook-ups, with hot showers, flush toilets, well water, a sani-station and fire rings, and reservations required through BC Parks in the peak season (first-come outside it). The one-hour Bear Creek Canyon Trail loops above the creek to viewpoints over the canyon and the lake to Knox Mountain, and the cottonwood delta is alive with swallows, hawks and, after dark, owls and coyotes.
-
Fintry Provincial Park
Fintry is the big west-shore day out: a natural sand beach with warm water along almost two kilometres of Okanagan Lake waterfront, on Fintry Delta Road off Westside Road about 34 km north of Kelowna and 49 km south of Vernon. Swim off the beach, launch a canoe or kayak, fish, or stay over in the campground. Behind the beach the former Fintry Estate gives this park something no other Okanagan beach has: the Manor House with guided tours of the house and its story, the octagonal barn and other farm buildings, and the Shorts Creek canyon trail past waterfalls and deep pools, with viewing platforms for birds, small mammals, deer and bighorn sheep. There are no lifeguards. Pets must be on leash at all times and are not allowed in the beach areas, except at the designated pet beach. Boaters can reach it too, 6 km across the lake from Ellison Park or Kopje Regional Park. The campground is the largest on the west shore — 190 sites (186 reservable), 30 with power, plus three group camping pods for 40 to 60 people — with three shower buildings, a paved boat launch and dock and a sani-station; blue-listed bighorn sheep and Townsend's big-eared bats share the park with a nesting pair of bald eagles.
🐾 Dog Friendly
-
Glen Canyon Regional Park
Glen Canyon runs for 95 hectares along Powers Creek in West Kelowna, and its trails offer everything from easy creek-side walks to challenging stairs and terrain, with views of the canyon's unusual geology and a 24-metre waterfall. Washrooms are on site, there is a viewpoint, and dogs are welcome on leash. The parking lot is off Gellatly Road South; the Brown Road vehicle entrance is closed from November 1 to April 1 when maintenance is reduced. Hours shift with the seasons, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m. The park is maintained with the help of the Gellatly Bay Trails and Parks Society. The Regional District's designated routes are the 2.3 km Glen Canyon Greenway, rated moderate, the easy 800-metre Doe Trail and the short Buck Trail, with informal paths branching through the canyon; Visit Westside splits the park into a north half of over 4 km and a south half of 2.2 km one way with stairs. The upper canyon is currently under a partial hazard closure, so respect the barriers.
-
Goats Peak Regional Park
Goats Peak rises steeply from the shore of Okanagan Lake in West Kelowna, and the payoff for the climb is a lookout with stunning lake and valley views beside towering rock bluffs. A rocky trail crosses protected grassland before a challenging climb through open woodland to the peak; the waterfront sections of this 63-hectare park are conservation areas for shore-spawning kokanee. A washroom is on site and dogs are welcome on leash. Park in the lot off Seclusion Bay Road, near the exits for Highway 97 and the Okanagan Connector, or use the newer access with limited street parking on Whitworth Road. Hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November 1 to April 1. Two designated trails cover the park: the 1.3 km Big Sagebrush Trail through the grassland, rated moderate, and the 1.4 km Mountain Goat Trail up to the peak, rated difficult by the Regional District.
-
Lambly (Bear) Lake Recreation Site
Lambly Lake — Bear Lake to everyone on the Westside — is 22 free campsites on a quiet electric-motor lake up the Bear Main forest road, about forty minutes from West Kelowna's traffic. Perch and trout for the kids, no reservations, no holding sites for friends, and no generators after dinner. Not to be confused with Bear Creek Provincial Park on the lake below, which is where the pavement ends and this road begins.
-
Mount Boucherie Arenas – Jim Lind Arena & Royal LePage Place
West Kelowna's two arenas sit side by side at the Mount Boucherie Complex — Jim Lind Arena, the community rink, and Royal LePage Place, home of the West Kelowna Warriors — and between them they run one of the fullest drop-in ice programs in the valley. Public and family skates are the anchor, with adult-only sessions for a calmer glide, an adaptive skate, and Big & Little sessions where parents skate with toddlers (helmets mandatory, and it is the only session where strollers are allowed on the ice). Hockey players get Adult Stick & Puck, a Kids Stick & Puck and Ring session that requires a full cage, and Noon Hour Hockey, a registered drop-in scrimmage where booking ahead guarantees a spot. Admission is $5.85 for adults, $4.35 for youth 13 to 18 and seniors 55 and over, $3.50 for children 5 to 12 and seniors 75+, $1.75 for tots under five, or $14 for a family, and skate rentals are $2.95 a pair. The City publishes the season's schedules as downloadable calendars, so check the current one for times; skate aids are not permitted in the public sessions.
-
Mount Boucherie – Boucherie Rush Trail
Mount Boucherie is West Kelowna's extinct volcano, and the Boucherie Rush Trail is the way up it: about 6 km round trip, one to three hours, with 275 metres of elevation gain to the 758-metre summit and panoramic views over Okanagan Lake and the valley from the old lava flows. Visit Westside rates it moderate to difficult; the northeast face is for experienced hikers only. The trailhead is the City's Boucherie greenspace at 2775 East Boundary Road (via Bartley Road), with overflow parking at the Darroch Park ball diamonds, and the City lists dogs permitted on leash there. Part of the mountain is private property, so obey the signs, and the City closes trails at times for wildfire-mitigation work.
-
Okanagan Bucktail Co.
Okanagan Bucktail Co. is Captain Geoff Hartland, one well-used boat and a fly box nobody else has: guided trolling charters for trophy rainbow trout and kokanee, fished with bucktail flies he ties by hand in West Kelowna and includes free on every trip. Okanagan Lake is the home water, fished year-round, with charters departing from the West Kelowna Yacht Club at 4111 Gellatly Road (the yacht club is the meeting point, with parking on site — the fishing itself is out on the lake) and the best trophy fishing from October through April when the big rainbows come up to chase bait near the surface; charters also run on Kalamalka, Skaha, Osoyoos and Mabel lakes. Rates are $500 for a half day and $800 for a full day per boat, all gear included, and if you are staying somewhere on Okanagan Lake with a dock he can pick you up there. Bookings are by call or text. A BC freshwater fishing licence is required.
-
Rodney's REEL Outdoors – Ice Fishing Charters
Rodney's REEL Outdoors turns the Okanagan's frozen mountain lakes into a proper winter day out. Ice-fishing charters run from mid-December, once the ice is safe, through late March: you meet the guide in West Kelowna at 8 a.m., drive up to a trout lake — and, depending on the snow, either park at the shore or ride the last stretch in by snowmobile — and fish until the return around 5 p.m. Everything is supplied: rods rigged with tungsten jigs, spoons and flies, a gas auger, an underwater camera to watch the rainbow, brook trout and perch come in, a six-man ice hut for the cold or windy days, a fire on shore, and a hot lunch of smokies roasted over the coals with snacks and hot chocolate, plus fish cleaning and bagging at the end. Ice charters are full-day only and priced per trip rather than per person — $900 for one or two anglers and $1,000 for three or four, plus GST and gratuity, with a lunch upgrade available — and take up to four anglers per guide. A BC freshwater fishing licence is required and not included; buy it online before the day. The same outfitter runs open-water charters on the big lakes the rest of the year.
-
Rose Valley Regional Park
Rose Valley Regional Park is 250 ha of natural parkland in the Rose Valley neighbourhood of West Kelowna, with a network of multi-use trails, spectacular views over the valley, a conservation area and a natural pond where birds and other wildlife can be spotted. The park was badly burned in the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire and is recovering through a phased, large-scale restoration effort, including volunteer tree planting. As of May 2026 the Regional District reports it partially re-opened with some areas still closed to visitors — observe the barricades and signage and check the RDCO wildfire-recovery page before you go. Washrooms are provided and dogs are welcome on leash. Visit Westside describes the main circuit as about 6 km round trip with roughly 80 metres of elevation gain, moderate to difficult, taking two to four hours.
-
Shannon Lake Regional Park
A peaceful West Kelowna lakeside park with a floating dock, short shoreline trails and picnic tables. Each spring park interpreters run the popular "Go Fish" program that teaches kids to cast their first line.
-
Smith Creek Trails
Smith Creek is a sanctioned mountain-bike trail network on the forested hills northwest of West Kelowna, managed as a Recreation Sites and Trails BC trail in partnership with the West Kelowna Trails Club and supported by Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan. About 15 km of routes offer anywhere from one to four hours of riding, with 400 to 700 metres of climbing depending on the loop; the lower elevations hold beginner trails and the fitness and technical difficulty rise as you climb, into flowy descents, natural-feature jumps and drops and smooth singletrack. Access is from Highway 97 via Elliott Road onto Smith Creek Road, which turns to gravel; parking is in a clearing on the right just after the overhead power line. Provincial recreation-trail rules ask that pets be kept quiet and under control at all times; parking costs are not published.
-
Telemark Nordic Club
Telemark is the Central Okanagan's Nordic centre, 9 km up Glenrosa Road in West Kelowna on a paved and plowed road — a 25-minute drive from downtown Kelowna and 15 minutes from downtown West Kelowna, with the parking lot 3 km before Crystal Mountain. The club grooms more than 50 km of cross-country trails for skate and classic skiing, several of them lit for night skiing, and maintains 60 km of snowshoe trails through quiet ponderosa forest, with rentals and lessons for all levels and a lodge with a fire to warm up beside. Day passes are straightforward: a one-day ski pass is $22 for adults and $11 for youth, night skiing $13 and $6.50, a snowshoe pass $11 and $5.50, and the K9 trail $6, all including GST, with children under six free. The lodge sits at about 1,000 metres.